Liverpool has been handed a warning by Pep Guardiola following Manchester City's 3-1 win against Everton on Wednesday.

Sean Dyche's side took the lead in the first half thanks to a goal from Jack Harrison, but were ultimately undone after Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva slotted their efforts past Jordan Pickford to secure all three points.

Liverpool currently holds a five-point gap on last season's treble winners. However, as City have so regularly shown in previous seasons, it is capable of hitting a rich vein of form in the second half of the season when it comes to securing titles.

Speaking after the victory at Goodison Park, Guardiola warned the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham that City is approaching them in the table, following a relatively slow start to the campaign thus far. "I remind them [his players] every day. We have standards to keep. That makes us have more responsibility so the standards cannot go down," Guardiola said (via the ECHO).

"I thought the first half was really good. In the second half we had to attack quicker with wingers and runners and we did really well.

"They showed again how special they are. We know after six games with just one win, the people were asking, which is normal because it is all about results but we are close and so do Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa. We want to be there.

"We said we needed to move to structure to play more direct to the wingers. We created 5-10 minutes of chances. Phil Foden in the end just took the ball and put it in the net! We arrived more often in the final third in the second half."

Liverpool.com says: City is dangerous in the table, especially when you consider they hold a game in hand on the Reds too. Liverpool will need to maintain its standards in the New Year, which will be difficult without Mohamed Salah and Wataru Endo as they depart for AFCON and the Asian Cup. City holds a major advantage in that regard, with no African or Asian players to worry about for Guardiola.