FULL TIME: Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool
And that’s that! Jurgen Klopp comes onto the pitch to congratulate his rampant Reds. They were simply magnificent in attack during the first half, and held their nerve in the second when it looked as though City might get back into it. In the end, it was a rout, and Liverpool’s first win at the City of Manchester Stadium since 2008. The home side’s second-half performance was much better than their abject first 45-minute display, but by then the damage was done. So after today’s fixtures, Liverpool are up to ninth, City drop to third, and Leicester City move top of the Premier League. A day of drama worth waiting a fortnight for.
Updated
90 min +3: Sagna wins a corner off Toure down the right. Lovren heads De Bruyne’s outswinger firmly away. City have been awful, of course, but De Bruyne has been excellent. City’s best player tonight.
90 min +2: Liverpool just playing keep-ball now.
90 min +1: The away supporters on a Rodgers and Hammerstein tip right now.
90 min: Lallana is replaced by Kolo Toure. There will be four added minutes. “I may cautiously reassess my prediction at this point,” writes Phil Sawyer.
Updated
89 min: Sterling gives the ball away on the edge of the Liverpool box. Ibe strides upfield on the counter. He’s got options either side, but hesitates and is robbed. Iheanacho makes good down the right wing, and finds Ferdandinho sliding in at the right-hand post. He guides the shot wide right of goal. “This game has vindicated Sterling’s decision to join City,” writes Paul Griffin. “On this showing, he would not get first team football at Liverpool.”
87 min: Liverpool, after a fashion, clear the corner. Up the field, Benteke threatens to steal the ball off a tentative Mangala on the halfway line. Had he managed it without being overly aggressive - as he nearly did before the ref blew his whistle - he was clear on goal.
85 min: Delph curls one towards the top right. Mignolet parries poorly to the right, allowing Iheanacho to fire a ball across the face of goal. Sterling waits to sidefoot home, but Skrtel deflects the ball out for a corner. “Skrtel was already my choice for MOTM, now that. He’s been immense.” Marie Meyer, there, who can speak for this MBM.
83 min: City look utterly dejected. Their fans make for the exits. Jurgen Klopp will have some sympathy for Manuel Pellegrini right now.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-4 Liverpool (Skrtel 81)
The corner’s swung in from the right. Skrtel rises, half-wins a header, and shoves everyone out of the way to absolutely belt a shot into the top right! It’s not near the postage stamp, or anything, but the harsh power of the shot beats Hart, who had no chance to react. What a finish! Skrtel showing Benteke how to go about his business there, in the no-nonsense style.
Updated
80 min: City are beginning to test Liverpool now, coming back at them again and again. De Bruyne wins a corner down the left, Lovren sliding in again. Skrtel heads powerfully clear. Then Ibe rolls a pass down the right to release Benteke. He’s clear! He must romp on goal, but hesitates, allowing Mangala to come back and hassle him. He finally gets a shot away, but Hart parries round for a corner.
79 min: Sterling romps into space down the left, but his cross isn’t up to much. Mignolet claims. And it’s a good minute for the Liverpool keeper, who comes out to batter a long City pass back upfield, with Sterling threatening to zip clear down the left wing.
78 min: City go up the other end, but with Liverpool light at the back, Iheanacho shoots lamely from distance out on the right. Mignolet watches the ball drift wide left.
77 min: Firmino, who has been excellent in every facet of his game, bar all those fluffed one-on-ones, is replaced by Benteke. Ibe races down the left, and pulls a brilliant ball back into the centre. Lallana waits for it, but it’s toe-poked clear by Sagna before he can put boot on ball.
75 min: De Bruyne bursts down the left. He skates past Milner and fires a low ball towards the near post. Lovren, sliding in, nearly turns the ball into the bottom left. It’s inches wide. From the corner, hit deep, Iheanacho finds the ball at his feet, 12 yards out on the right. He can’t get a shot away, and Moreno blocks. City beginning to probe again.
73 min: Lallana is upended out on the right. Milner’s free kick, with the City box loaded, is no good. City take the ball up the other end, looking purposeful for a while, but eventually losing their way in the final third. Ihenanacho loops a harmless ball forward, Mignolet gathering with ease.
71 min: Ibe twists and turns down the left to win a corner. City can’t clear the set piece, and the ball slowly bounces to Firmino on the penalty spot. He’s got a split second to get a shot away, but can only pop a weak one straight into Hart’s chest. He’s had three one-on-ones with Hart now. Success rate: 0%. Though he does of course have a goal to his name.
70 min: Fernandinho turns on the pace down the middle, but is stopped in his tracks by the perfectly timed toe of Can. Another player on a booking, so he had to be on the money there. As it was, a fine challenge which halted a dangerous City attack. This isn’t over by a long chalk.
68 min: Liverpool make their first change, a limping Coutinho replaced by Ibe. He seems to be holding his hamstring, but then it also looked like he was telling his manager it wasn’t too bad. Not that my Portuguese/German lip-reading skills should be totally trusted.
67 min: Aguero is replaced by Iheanacho. Lovren manages to concede a corner on the right by kicking a clearance against himself. Liverpool deal with the set piece. This is one wild game.
66 min: De Bruyne swings a stunning low free kick into the Liverpool box from deep on the right. He finds Ferndando, who somehow scoops a shot over the bar from six yards. Someone’s going to score soon. But who?
64 min: Milner passes back down the City left. It’s an appalling pass, and Sterling is onto it, one on one with Mignolet but facing a tight angle. Sterling finds Aguero on the edge of the D. Aguero powers towards the top right, and it’s going in, but Mignolet stretches to claw the ball from the sky. Milner owes his keeper a pint.
62 min: Liverpool have the ball in the net, but the offside flag goes up. Can wins the ball in the middle of the park, and hoicks the ball long for Firmino down the inside-right channel. He just needs to play it inside for Coutinho, but delays. When the ball finally goes forward, an offside Coutinho rounds Hart on the right and finishes calmly, but it’s an exercise in futility.
60 min: Liverpool Should Be Out Of Sight pt4. Can rolls a ball across the face of the City area from the left. Coutinho dummies, and Firmino is free. He’s one on one with Hart, and again batters his shot into the keeper when a simple dink would have seen him score. The resulting corner comes to nothing. A turning point? Or more accurately: another turning point?
Updated
59 min: More slapstick shenanigans as Milner tries to play a reverse pass down the right to release Clyne into space, but only manages to fall flat on his face. “It’s a strange and nerve wracking situation to be in, hoping that City attack more so that Liverpool can spring the counter-attack again,” adds Nervousness’s Phil Sawyer. “Basically, I’m gibbering here. Also, pleased to see from my previous email that I’ve already forgotten how to spell Sterling’s name correctly. That’ll learn him.”
58 min: All a bit scrappy in the midfield. Then a loose ball breaks down the City right, allowing Aguero to put Lovren under pressure. From the resulting throw, Sterling cuts in from the right and has a shot which, rather wonderfully for fans of base comedy, hits Skrtel on the arse.
56 min: Moreno makes good down the right, into the City box. He rolls the ball across to set Firmino up for a tap-in, but Mangala toe-pokes it out of his road. Now it’s City’s turn to struggle to clear their ranks. They manage it after a while, but only after Milner had a quick look at causing trouble down the right.
54 min: City pin Liverpool back. De Bruyne, on the right, floats a cross to the far post. Fernandinho is racing in to head home, but Milner holds his position and heads out for a corner. The set piece is half cleared by Liverpool, then Delph tries to find the bottom-right corner from 35 yards. That’s not going to happen, is it. The ball trundles apologetically out of play to the right of goal.
52 min: The best form of defence for Liverpool will be attack. Firmino shoots from out on the left and his shot is deflected away for a corner. Liverpool make a balls of it, but Aguero bowls Milner over down the Liverpool right, and that’s a free kick, and a chance for the visitors to load the box. The set piece is nothing to write home about.
49 min: The last time Liverpool were three up in the league? Selhurst Park at the end of the 2013-14 season, and we all know what happened there. No wonder, then, that they look a little nervous now. Milner and Lucas do the old pincer movement on De Bruyne in the centre of the park. The area the foul’s committed in probably influences the referee’s decision to keep his card in his pocket. Lucas on a booking, of course.
48 min: De Bruyne floats a cross into the Liverpool box from the left. It’s not far from Fernandinho, rushing in from the right, but Mignolet is out quickly to claim.
47 min: Can is booked for a slide on Fernandinho. Advantage City in the midfield, where both of Liverpool’s defensive players are on yellow cards.
46 min: Delph plays a cute pass down the inside-left channel and into the Liverpool box. Sterling comes across with the hope of latching onto the pass, but Mignolet is out quickly to smother. “Things could be worse for City,” begins Simon McMahon. “At least Joe Hart turned up at the right ground, unlike Brechin City keeper Graeme Smith, who arrived at Ochilview in Stenhousmuir today only to be told that Brechin were actually at home. Cue an 80-mile dash to Glebe Park in time for 3 o’clock. He made it, but Brechin lost 2-1.”
Updated
And we're off again!
City get the ball rolling for the second half, having made two changes. Delph and Fernandinho are on for Navas and Toure. A prediction from Phil Sawyer, and he’s saying what most Liverpool supporters are thinking, I’ll be bound: “Liverpool to lose it 5-3 from here. Stirling hat-trick in the second half, you mark my words.”
Half-time advertisement: Shankly’s Village tells the remarkable story of Glenbuck, a small Ayrshire mining village which was birthplace to Bill Shankly and 52 other professional footballers, four of them his brothers. An evocative and heartwarming tale, which at one point sees wee Wullie getting the strap from his schoolmaster after moving the schoolroom clock forward by 30 minutes, so he could get out early for a kickabout. Magical.
HALF TIME: Manchester City 1-3 Liverpool
What a wild half of football. Liverpool could be five goals clear. As it is, they’re only ahead by two. Only! Anything could happen in the second half. It promises to be intense. You’ll not be going anywhere, will you?
45 min +1: Space for Aguero on the left. He enters the box and wins a corner off a sliding Skrtel. Liverpool clear the set piece, but the ball’s soon coming back at them. Firmino eventually intercepts and calms the situation down by belting the ball up the other end.
45 min: There will be two minutes added to this half. If City get another ...
GOAL! Manchester City 1-3 Liverpool (Aguero 44)
Mignolet plays a tight pass out to Clyne on the Liverpool right. It allows City to come at Liverpool with purpose. Aguero shimmies in from the City left and curls a peach into the top right! What a gorgeous finish! But another goal that’s resulted from defensive nonsense.
Updated
43 min: All a bit scrappy now. What City would give for a little something before half-time.
40 min: A loose pass back to Mignolet from Lovren, the keeper under pressure. He hacks to Kolarov, who makes a run down the left and wins another corner. Again Skrtel powers clear. City should take succour that, for all their shambolic play in this half, Liverpool aren’t exactly watertight themselves.
38 min: Lucas is booked for grabbing Aguero round the shoulder as the striker skitters through the midfield. A cynical one, and his fifth caution of the season. He’ll miss the upcoming game against Swansea City.
37 min: Sterling makes off down the left in an attempt to turn the tide. He reaches the byline and chips one into the middle, but Skrtel deflects it into the arms of Mignolet.
36 min: Liverpool should be out of sight pt.II. Lallana slips a ball inside from the left. Coutinho juggles it, then prods forward down the channel for Firmino, who squirts a diagonal shot across Hart and inches wide of the right-hand post. It could easily be five.
35 min: Liverpool should be out of sight. Mangala plays a ridiculous square pass to Coutinho, who finds Firminho free on the right. He’s one on one with Hart, who saves brilliantly.
34 min: They’ve just shown a replay of the Aguero penalty shout. He battered the ball into Skrtel’s face. No pen. “With Firmino and Coutinho running the show, it really is just like watching Brazil,” suggests Gar Byrne. Well, someone had to.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-3 Liverpool (Firmino 32)
Coutinho warms Hart’s hands from 20 yards. The ball breaks to the left. Can backkeels down the left. Coutinho is free. He rolls the ball to the right for Firmino, who taps home carefully. That’s a majestic team goal. But what a backheel! City were Can opened.
Updated
31 min: Aguero runs at Skrtel in the Liverpool area, down the left. Skrtel slides in to block, and it looks as though the ball hits the defender’s arm. But City don’t get the decision. They don’t appeal too strongly, though it’d be interesting to see that again.
29 min: More annoyance tumbles down from the stand, as Kolarov wins a corner on the left. Skrtel crashes a clearing header into the middle of the park, and City shuttle the ball all the way back to Hart.
27 min: City can’t get the ball forward, though they’re seeing enough of the ball. Liverpool holding their shape. Hart ponders a long kick for a few seconds, and the crowd quickly get on his back. Understandable frustration at what they’ve seen so far.
25 min: Firmino flicks the ball over Demichelis’s head down the left. He toys with him in the cat / ball of wool style. Fernando arrives, in emergency mode, to batter out for a corner. The set piece comes to nothing, but City are all over the shop here.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool (Coutinho 23)
What a counter attack this is. Firmino battles his way past a spinning Mangala and Demichelis in the middle of the park. He drifts to the right of the D, bringing both men with him, then dinks a pass back into the middle. Coutinho is running in to meet it, and sidefoots into the bottom-right past a wrong-footed Hart. That’s a goal of electric brilliance in attack, though City’s centre backs were on a silent-movie tip there.
Updated
22 min: But City are suddenly on their game again. De Bruyne finds space down the right and fires a low ball into the six-yard box. Sterling is waiting to slam home, but Clyne nips in ahead and hammers clear.
21 min: A rare period of sustained possession for City. They probe down both flanks, through Kolarov on the left, then Navas on the other wing, but can’t open a firm Liverpool up.
19 min: Liverpool are all over City right now. Milner has a dig from the best part of 30 yards, which is a bit optimistic. On the touchline, Jurgen Klopp is beside himself with rage. He’ll be desperate for his team to get another while they’re on top.
17 min: Clyne, Milner and Firmino ping it around the right wing. Eventually Clyne chips one down the inside-right channel to release Lallana once again - and once again the flag goes up, correctly, for offside. Liverpool were much smarter then, though, City living on the edge. Lallana rolls the ball inside for Coutinho, to demonstrate how they’d have walked the ball into the net had they timed that correctly.
15 min: Lallana tries to release Milner down the right with a cheeky backheel. A wee bit too clever for his own good, that, as it flies out of play for a goal kick. City are looking a bit ragged at the back, to say the least. They can be thankful that Liverpool have started to over-elaborate.
14 min: Clyne slides a ball down the right to release Lallana into the area. The flag goes up for offside, quite correctly. Lallana bollocks his team-mate, because the pass was needlessly delayed. Had it been played in time - and Clyne was under no pressure whatsoever - City were in all sorts of bother.
12 min: City come straight back at Liverpool, through Navas down the right. His low ball into the area is looking for Aguero, but is intercepted by Skrtel. Good luck at guessing which way this game is going to go. Both teams are streaming forward with extreme prejudice!
11 min: De Bruyne is causing all sorts of bother down the right. Moreno is leaving big gaps behind him as he attacks. Can and Skrtel swarm and snuff out the attack. Liverpool tear forward on the break, Coutinho spraying the ball to the right for Clyne. The full back is in acres of space, and should perhaps be greedy enough to take a shot. But when he drops a shoulder to cut inside, he looks for a pass inside for Firminho, and it’s no good.
10 min: ... the ball drops to Sterling on the penalty spot. He goes over his own feet as he tries to dig the ball out for a shot. The crowd claim a penalty, but in fairness the player himself doesn’t bother. This is relentless stuff.
9 min: City respond with a crisp move down the right, De Bruyne and Mangala earning a corner. From which ...
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Liverpool (Mangala 7 og)
Hart hoicks forward to Sagna down the City right. He’s dispossessed by Coutinho, who rolls down their left. The ball’s played forward to Firmino, who pulls a low ball into the centre. It’s intended for Coutinho, who has kept running, but Mangala tries to intercept. However he gets in an awful tangle, and the ball’s dispatched in slow-motion into the bottom-left corner. What a strange goal. Marvellous intense pressing by Liverpool, though.
Updated
6 min: Can is allowed to embark on a long wander down the inside-left channel. His one-two with Coutinho on the edge of the box nearly opens City up. Then a second phase of play, Coutinho, Moreno, Firmino and Can clipping the ball around in pretty triangles. Can is sprung into space, but he’s offside. Neat play. Both sides looking confident in attack, less so in defence.
4 min: Liverpool betray some nerves, Coutinho losing the ball in the middle of the park and allowing Sterling to tear clear down the left. Sterling drops a shoulder to come inside but can’t get his shot away. City looking dangerous though.
Updated
3 min: Aguero goes on a twinkle-toed scamper down the inside-left channel and nearly breaks through the Liverpool back line. Skrtel hooks out with a last-ditch tackle. City come back at Liverpool and win a corner down the left. Skrtel, a one-man brick wall right now, heads clear.
Updated
2 min: City try to break down the right through Navas and De Bruyne, but can’t keep the move going. Sterling takes his first touch, and the first pantomime of the season is underway. Huge boos from the away fans, followed by even louder cheers from the home support.
20 seconds: Coutinho, sitting deep, plays a ball down the middle of the park with a view to releasing Lallana. Too much juice on the pass, but City were a bit light at the back there. A very early sign that Liverpool are in the mood to go for it, because sitting back would just ask for trouble?
And we're off!
Heartfelt applause tumbles down from the stand, the teams get into their pre-match huddles, and then the game gets underway. Liverpool set the ball rolling. There’s a cracking atmosphere in the City of Manchester Stadium.
The teams are out! Manchester City in their famous sky blue, Liverpool in their equally well-known red. It’s an aesthetic delight. But before kick-off, the players mingle in the centre circle to demonstrate how the whole world has France’s back, as La Marseillaise is defiantly trumpeted across the stadium. We’ll be underway in a minute.
And now it’s the turn of a cheery Jurgen Klopp to have his say. He’s asked about the possibility of taking all three points tonight, and laughs quite a lot before answering. “We all know about the quality of Manchester City, a big team and a big manager. We must not allow them to play their rhythm, because if they play at their rhythm they are pretty strong. Set the level of intensity, that’s what we try to do. They have to run, we have to run. We must not forget to play football, it’s important not to be hectic. And very important: Shoot. The. Ball. In. The. Goal. Don’t concede one, and then everything’s OK. That’s football! Cool, eh?”
Manuel Pellegrini - whose team are third in the table as a result of the earlier games, now trailing new leaders Leicester City and second-placed Manchester United - speaks! “For different reasons this is the best starting XI I could pick for this game. Otamendi had played too many games in a row, Fernandinho the same thing. I am not thinking about the Champions League. I am only thinking about Liverpool, and the three points that would take us back to the top of the league. I think Sterling must be calm, and play the way he has done all season. Of course it is a special game for him against a former club, but I don’t think this will have an influence on him.”
Tonight’s half-and-half scarf. It’s damn cold out there. Those scarves are warm and snuggly. What’s to be gained by feudin’ and a-fussin’?
Today’s flimsy excuse to put up a link to City!, the best warts-and-all football documentary there is: It starts with a 3-0 Liverpool win at Maine Road in October 1980. That game is followed by one of the most gloriously petulant press conferences in the history of All Football. Malcolm Allison, wine glass charged and cigar on, simply oozed star quality, didn’t he.
Two of the best strikers in the Premier League make their returns from injury tonight. Manchester City welcome back Sergio Aguero, and plonk him straight in the starting XI. No messing. Liverpool meanwhile can select Daniel Sturridge once again after his latest lay-off, though perhaps understandably they’re being a tad more cautious, naming him as a substitute rather than throwing him straight into the maelstrom of an away game at City.
Tonight's teamsheets
Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Toure, Fernando, Jesus Navas, De Bruyne, Sterling, Aguero.
Subs: Zabaleta, Caballero, Delph, Clichy, Fernandinho, Otamendi, Iheanacho.
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Skrtel, Lovren, Moreno, Can, Lucas, Milner, Coutinho, Lallana, Firmino.
Subs: Toure, Benteke, Sturridge, Allen, Ibe, Bogdan, Randall.
Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire).
Welcome back to the Premier League!
The international break came at the wrong time for Manchester City. Sure, they only drew their last game in the Premier League, but they were the better team at Aston Villa, and before that were really hitting form. Six goals against Newcastle United, five against Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, late winners against Borussia Monchengladbach, Sevilla and Norwich, a determined draw at rivals Manchester United, and a scintillating display in the return at Sevilla, as good a performance as you’ll see from anyone in the Champions League all season. All that, and they had big players missing. Yet they were moving through the gears in style.
The international break came at the right time for Liverpool. Their last game in the Premier League was Jurgen Klopp’s first defeat in English football, and it was a strange one against Crystal Palace. On a different day, with better finishing, they could have won that game. Having said that, on a different day, with better finishing, Palace could have run up quite a score. Klopp, it’s fair to say, has a lot of work to do. And at last, over the last fortnight, he’s had time to get some of it done. It’ll be fascinating to see how his players respond, especially as the transfer window will be opening soon, and a few of these lads need to make an impression on their new boss and quick.
Both teams will go into this game feeling it could be their day. City because they should win this game easily by rights. Liverpool because they’ve already proved under Klopp their ability to survive in the lion’s den at Spurs and Chelsea (though City are a bigger beast and the loss of Mamadou Sakho, forcing the selection of Dejan Lovren, is the equivalent of stepping into the cage with neither whip nor chair).
These two usually put on a show at the City of Manchester Stadium, with Liverpool repeatedly cast as the fall guys. City won here comprehensively last season; were slightly indebted to a trigger-happy linesman for their win the previous Boxing Day; scrambled a draw when Pepe Reina went walkabout in 2012; and battered Liverpool 3-0 in the two previous meetings. Liverpool’s last win in the league here came courtesy of a late Dirk Kuyt goal in 2008, though Steven Gerrard did given them a crucial victory in the League Cup semi of 2012. They’re overdue another good result here, but City don’t look in the mood to give them it. Still, with goals always a feature when these two meet, anything could happen tonight. It’s on!
The camera will start lingering on Raheem Sterling, for far too long, at: 5.30pm.
Updated
