AFC - Ehsan Haji Safi scored from the penalty spot in each half as Iran consolidated their position at the top of Group D in the 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifiers with a 4-0 victory over bottom of the table India on Thursday.

The home side dominated the contest as the Group D frontrunners met the side that sits at the football of the five-team table, with Haji Safi, who plays his club football in Germany with second division side FSV Frankfurt, breaking the deadlock with a 33rd minute penalty, awarded after Alireza Jahanbakhsh had been fouled inside the area by Bikash Jairu.

After spurning a glorious opportunity to double Iran’s advantage early in the second half, Sardar Azmoun did make it 2-0 to Team Melli shortly after the hour mark when the prolific 21-year-old netted his fifth of the qualifiers before the influential Haji Safi scored his second from the spot five minutes later.

And with 12 minutes left to play Jahanbakhsh - who was the 2014/15 player of the season in Dutch football’s second tier Eerste Divisie prior to his move from NEC to AZ Alkmaar - socred Iran's fourth and final goal, with the talented 22-year-old winger slotting home after weaving his way through a tiring India defence.

With second-place Oman following up Iran’s victory with a narrow 1-0 win over Guam in Thursday’s other Group D fixture, the three point gap between the top two sides remains ahead of their meeting at the Azadi Stadium the final round of matches on Tuesday.

Iran lead the way with 17 points and boast a vastly superior goal difference over the Gulf Sultanate, with the two sides having previously played out a 1-1 draw in Muscat earlier in the campaign.

Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.

The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams.

The remaining sides will have to negotiate past two rounds of playoffs for one of the final eight spots in the Asian Cup third qualifying round.