The 2 giants of the Premier League, Liverpool and Manchester City went head to head at Anfield, in what many were expecting as an early title decider. The Reds went in with their full first team, however the Citizens missed the likes of Ederson, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sane through injury.
With both sides being strong at attack, the match was expected to have a lot of goals. A City attack saw the ball strike the arm of Alexander-Arnold in the 18-yard box, but it looked to have striked Bernardo Silva’s arm first, and from the counter, Fabinho shot from distance, and the ball flew past Claudio Bravo in the back of the net to give the Reds the lead in the 6th minute.
And in the 12th minute, a cross by Andrew Robertson was headed into goal by Mohamed Salah to double the lead for Liverpool. Both teams created chances in the first half but were unable to capitalise as the first half ended 2-0 in favor of the Home team.
Liverpool caught City off again in the second half, when Jordan Henderson flew a beautiful cross into the box which was headed by Sadio Mane in the 51st minute, which arguably should’ve been kept out by Bravo. The remaining part of the match saw City attacking and Liverpool defending their 3 goal cushion. City dominated possession but were not able to score until the 78th minute, when Angelino’s low cross was driven in the goal by Bernardo Silva to make the scoreline 3-1.
City tried everything to find another goal in the last 10 minutes, but couldn’t as Liverpool won 3-1. This win takes Liverpool 8 points clear from 2nd placed Leicester City at the top of the table, as they go motivated in the international break. Man City are 4th with 25 points, and will need to come back with a fresh mindset from the international break, as they face Chelsea a fortnight later.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Liverpool:
Allison- 7
Trent Alexander- Arnold- 7
Dejan Lovren- 7
Virgil Van Djik- 7
Andrew Robertson- 8
Fabinho- 8
Jordan Henderson- 7
Georginio Wijnaldum- 7
Mohamed Salah- 8
Roberto Firmino- 6
Sadio Mane- 8
Subs:
James Milner- 6
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain- 6
Joe Gomez- N/A
Man City:
Claudio Bravo- 5
Angelino- 7
Fernandinho- 6
John Stones- 6
Kyle Walker- 5
Ilkay Gundogan- 5
Rodri- 6
Kevin De Bruyne- 6
Raheem Sterling- 7
Sergio Aguero- 5
Bernardo Silva- 8
Subs:
Gabriel Jesus- 6
