LIVERPOOL 2, MAN CITY 0
Manchester City’s woes continued as their winless run stretches to seven matches following their defeat at leaders Liverpool.
It was a fourth straight league loss for City – the last time this happened was in 2008 – as they find themselves 11 points adrift of Arne Slot’s side as surely hopes of a fifth straight title are already in tatters.
Goals from Cody Gakpo and a Mohamed Salah penalty secured victory for Liverpool who would have won by a wider margin with more clinical finishing.
City have also conceded two or more goals in each of the seven matches, the first time this has happened to City since 1963
City were second best from start to finish as Liverpool secured only their second win in 10 league games against Liverpool.
And how the home fans savoured the moments with deafening chants of ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ ringing around Anfield.
They were directed at City manager Pep Guardiola who has confessed to not sleeping at night as his side has now not won a competitive game for 34 days.
Guardiola, who is experiencing the worst run of his managerial career, had a wry smile as he raised six fingers to denote the number of Premier League titles he has won since he arrived at the Etihad in 2016.
He said: “All the stadiums want to sack me, it started at Brighton! Maybe they are right with the results we’ve been having.
“I didn’t expect that at Anfield. They didn’t do it at 1-0, but at 2-0. Maybe they should have sung it in the past. I didn’t expect it from the people from Liverpool but it’s fine, it’s part of the game, and I understand completely. We’ve had incredible battles together. I have a respect for them.
Embed from Getty Images“I said before this game that we weren’t in a position to think about targets, but the season is long. We have to think about making results and then some players will come back and then we’ll be better, and we’ll believe maybe. There are many things to fight for and we’re going to try.”
Reflecting on the game, Guardiola explained: “The first 15-20 minutes they were unstoppable, they started so strong, we tried to play with a lot of control and passes, but it was difficult to take it.
“They deserved the first goal, but we started the first half so well and played well in the second half without too much threat. I know how strong Liverpool are in both boxes.
“I congratulate them. We’ll reset and start from zero and it is difficult to believe it. I rely a lot on these players, I know they are doing in this position. We’ll see what happens by the end of the season.
“We can always do the short passes, and we can do it, but we don’t have many alternatives. All I can say is thank you to them because I know the commitment that they showed with and without the ball. Maybe I had a feeling inside me that we will build from them. We will restart and try and make a good run.
“There is a moment where maybe it will click. Today Kevin [De Bruyne] played good minutes and Jack [Grealish] played well in that position and Jeremy [Doku] played good minutes after a month out. Bernardo and Rico [Lewis] have a lot of minutes in their legs.
“Nathan [Ake] was exceptional against maybe one of the great wingers. I congratulate Liverpool, they deserve the victory, and we accept the situation right now and we’ll build from that.”
Slot said: “If you want to win against City, you have to be perfect in every part of the game. High press, low press, build-up. They bring so many problems to you. We came close to perfection, we weren’t perfect, but we came close to perfection. That’s the only way to beat a quality team like City.
“I don’t think anyone, including me, would have predicted this [start]. I knew Jurgen [Klopp] left the team in a very good place. But still, to win so much with all the difficult teams we have played already is not something you could predict at the start of the season.
“But, like I say, I saw Arsenal yesterday and Chelsea today and I saw City, they will come back because these teams have so much quality. They could go on the same run as us. So we have to stay sharp and focused.”
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said: “I think City is a fantastic team. Four-time champions in a row. They have the quality to punish any team. But I think we were solid defensively and had great chances. We could have scored more.
“Good game. We won. And we move on. We focus on the next game. That’s the only thing we can do. There’s no point at this stage of the season to get ahead of ourselves.
“Of course, everybody wants to be in a position where they are 11 points ahead of their opponents. But there’s so many twists and turns. We have injuries to our team unfortunately and we have to deal with that.”
The headline news for City was Stefan Ortega started in goal with Ederson benched. Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias replaced Josko Gvardiol and Jack Grealish from the 3-3 draw with Feyenoord.
Liverpool made three changes from their win over Real Madrid.
Alexander-Arnold was back from injury and Joe Gomez came in at the back for the injured Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate while Dominik Szoboszlai replaced Curtis Jones in midfield.
Ortega was quickly thrust into the spotlight with a terrific save in the fourth minute to deny Cody Gakpo who was released by Luis Diaz’s through ball. It would not have counted, though, with the flag raised for offside.
It was then Szoboszlai’s turn to twice test Ortega with low shots which required diving saves.
Szoboszlai then provided the cross to the far post which Virgil van Dijk headed against the upright.
Liverpool’s incessant pressure finally paid off in the 13th minute when Salah raced away down the right and his low cross was converted at the far post by Gakpo from almost on the line.
It was Gakpo’s eighth goal of the season and sixth in the last seven matches for the in-form Dutchman.
Liverpool were rampant and ought to have build on their lead as van Dijk headed narrowly wide and Gakpo shot over when well placed.
There was also another chance as a corner was cleared to Alexander-Arnold whose drive fizzed narrowly wide.
It took City until the 39th minute before they carved out their first clear-cut chance when Rico Lewis fired narrowly wide.
It was the longest they had to wait before creating their first chance of the match since they faced Arsenal in April 2010.
Liverpool continued to create chances at the start of the second period as Gakpo burst clear only to be denied by a last-gasp challenge by Matheus Nunes while van Dijk’s header from a corner landed on the roof of the net.
City were caught out defensively when Manuel Akanji and Bernardo Silva were involved in a mix-up as Salah burst clear only to shoot over with just Ortega to beat.
Guardiola made a double change just short of the hour as Nunes and Ilkay Gundogan were replaced by Doku and Savinho.
It was not Salah’s day in front of goal as he burst forward only to shoot wide then had another shot saved by Ortega as other Liverpool chances went begging.
City finally doubled their lead in the 78th minute through Salah’s penalty.
Substitute Darwin Nunez nipped the ball away from Dias and released Diaz who was brought down by Ortega.
Salah, who missed a spot kick in midweek against Real Madrid, made no mistake as he bagged his 13th goal of the season.
Guardiola made two further changes as Lewis and Phil Foden were replace by de Bruyne and Grealish.
City had their best chance when de Bruyne seized on a rare error by van Dijk only to be denied by a great block by keeper Caoimhin Kelleher.
Ortega made another important save to turn a shot from substitute Jones round the post for a corner, the last of Liverpool’s 18 goal attempts – City managed eight and only two on target.