It was all about which of these rivals could capitalise on Arsenal’s draw at Sunderland on Saturday, who could make a statement about their intention to chase down the Premier League leaders? It was Manchester City who cleared their throats and made it plain that they are in this race for the long haul. Liverpool barely got a word in.
The table looks a lot more appealing for Pep Guardiola and his players now, City only four points behind Arsenal, and it was an occasion when they blew Liverpool away. They could shrug off the inconvenience of Erling Haaland missing a controversially awarded 13th-minute penalty to put on a show of strength, particularly in the first half.
It was Haaland, inevitably, who opened the scoring with his 19th City goal of the season and, after Nico González had benefited from a deflection off Virgil van Dijk in first-half stoppage time, the scene was set for the coup de grace.
Jérémy Doku was almost unplayable, a blur of tricks and direct running and his goal for 3-0 was a beauty, a quick move inside before the perfectly executed curler with his right foot into the far corner. He merited the ovation he got when he was substituted towards the end.
Liverpool cried foul over two decisions – both driven by the video assistant referee, Michael Oliver. They got away with the penalty when Giorgi Mamardashvili kept out Haaland’s kick but the sickener was when Van Dijk had a header for 1-1 ruled out after a corner. Andy Robertson was in an offside position close to Gianluigi Donnarumma and it mattered not that the City goalkeeper looked unlikely to make the save. It was a real letter of the law call.
It was not the reason why Liverpool lost. City were slicker and more incisive; they carried the greater physical threat, too. It was difficult not to fear that Liverpool’s title defence has ended here and not only because they trail Arsenal by eight points. It was the manner in which they fell to a fourth away league defeat in succession for the first time since 2012. There had been no little fanfare after their midweek Champions League win over Real Madrid. They were back. Not on this evidence.
Guardiola was lauded for his 1,000th game as a manager beforehand, City screening an extended and effusive tribute to him on the big screen, and it was then on to trying to unpick another of his tactical setups. Because the fluency, the positional interchanges of his midfielders, was really something.
City brought intensity from the first whistle, Doku marauding from the left, popping up all over. Bernardo Silva sat alongside González one minute and pushed high or wide the next. He would control the tempo. Guardiola consistently seemed to have the extra man in midfield. Nico O’Reilly caused problems from left-back when he was not doing a defensive number on Mohamed Salah.
The touchpaper was lit by the penalty decision, the referee, Chris Kavanagh, advised by Oliver to study the replays of the moment when Doku appeared to bulldoze through Ibrahima Konaté before slicing back from the byline and seeing Mamardashvili come flying out at him. The contact was minimal – one of those where you had to look very hard from a specific angle to discover it – and, if it was technically there, it did not disguise the reality that the award was soft.
City did not relent after Mamardashvili’s save. Doku shimmered with menace. It was the skills, the pace, the strength; the complete package. Rayan Cherki had a shot blocked by Konaté and the breakthrough had been advertised. Liverpool were in danger of being run off the pitch. It was remarkable to see how many one-on-one duels they lost before the interval; how they plodded without inspiration.
Haaland’s goal for 1-0 was strange, albeit the buildup was lovely. Konaté appeared to get a little flick to Matheus Nunes’s cross from the right with Haaland airborne behind him. But the striker still managed to loop the header back into the corner of the net. How much did he know about it? Then again, it was Haaland.
Slot raged on the touchline when the Van Dijk lifeline was snuffed out – the Liverpool captain bullied Nunes to thump home his header – and the wound was salted when González tried his luck from distance. The ball just had to take a decisive flick off Van Dijk.
Slot had stuck with his back-to-basics approach, the same lineup – broadly – that he played in the victories against Aston Villa and Real that had given Liverpool optimism in the buildup. The key detail was that it was the midfield three from the title-winning season last time out, with Florian Wirtz on the left of the front three. Wirtz had a few flickers, City having to resort to some roughhouse stuff to stop him.
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Liverpool pushed after the restart. They were better, even if the bar was low. Ryan Gravenberch almost released Salah, Rúben Dias forced into a saving challenge as Donnarumma made a reckless bolt from his area. González nearly put through his own goal while Cody Gakpo, on as a substitute for the anonymous Hugo Ekitiké, blazed over when well placed.
Doku kept coming. He enjoyed himself, the alarm bells ringing for Liverpool whenever he got on the ball. His goal was the showstopper. Dominik Szoboszlai would work Donnarumma with a piledriver while Salah touched narrowly wide of the far corner in a one-on-one. The game was long since over.
