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Manchester City marked Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game in management with a decisive 3-0 victory over Liverpool, narrowing the gap to four points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal.
Erling Haaland overcame an early missed penalty to score his 99th Premier League goal with a header, while a deflected strike from Nico Gonzalez and a stunning goal from Jeremy Doku sealed City’s position as Arsenal’s main competitors for the title.
Liverpool has suffered four defeats in their last five league matches, leaving the reigning champions in eighth place, eight points adrift of the top.
Despite some contentious decisions, this match showed Liverpool’s significant decline compared to their comfortable 2-0 victory at the Etihad earlier this year.
Although the Reds showed signs of improvement by beating Aston Villa and Real Madrid recently, they were unable to match the fluidity of a revitalised City, which has triumphed in 11 of its last 14 matches across all competitions.
Conor Bradley effectively neutralised Vinicius Junior’s threat against Madrid on Tuesday, but struggled against Doku’s speed and skill down the left flank for City.
Doku capitalised on Ibrahima Konate’s clearance off Bradley to round Giorgi Mamardashvili, but the Georgian defender clipped his trailing leg.
Referee Chris Kavanagh initially did not award the penalty but pointed to the spot following a VAR review. Although Haaland has already scored 28 times this season for both club and country, he has yet to find the net for City from the penalty spot. Mamardashvili redeemed himself by diving low to his left to parry Haaland’s penalty, momentarily uplifting the spirits of the Liverpool players and their travelling supporters.
City maintained their dominance in the match, as Rayan Cherki’s effort was deflected wide, and Mamardashvili saved Doku’s strike after another impressive run, hitting the side-netting.
Haaland, having only failed to score in two of his 18 appearances this season, made his mark with a looping header that connected with Matheus Nunes’ precise delivery in the 29th minute.
Liverpool believed they had equalised nine minutes later when Van Dijk’s header from a corner flew into the far corner of the net. However, Andy Robertson ducked out of the way of his captain’s shot and was considered to have interfered with Gianluigi Donnarumma while being in an offside position.
Instead of going into halftime level, City added to Liverpool’s frustrations.
The visitors were sluggish to react after a corner, allowing Gonzalez to fire a shot that deflected off Van Dijk to deceive Mamardashvili.
Liverpool could have turned the game around early in the second half, but Cody Gakpo missed a clear chance by blasting over the bar after a well-coordinated play involving Mohamed Salah and Bradley.
Doku fittingly capped off what could be his finest performance in three seasons at City with a superb goal, sidestepping the slow-footed Konate and curling a shot into the top corner from outside the area.
Salah epitomised Liverpool’s challenging day and season when he chipped a glorious opportunity wide ten minutes from the end.
Despite the pressing need for goals, Slot chose to keep the £125 million ($165 million) striker, Alexander Isak, on the bench for the entire match due to concerns about his fitness.
