City beaten at home by league leaders Liverpool

First-half goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai saw the visitors pick up three points to extend their advantage at the top of the table.

Omar Marmoush had the ball in the back of the net for the Blues but his goal was ruled out for offside.

What happened

For the past decade, clashes between City and Liverpool have been arguably the biggest games of the Premier League season.

With former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp saying “Auf Wiedersehen” to the fixture after a legendary tussle with Pep Guardiola, Arne Slot brought his side to the Etihad for the first time having not lost in the Premier League away from home during his tenure so far.

It was a typically high octane start as City put the visitors under pressure early on with Jeremy Doku gliding past Trent Alexander-Arnold on numerous occasions with ease but we failed to seriously trouble Alisson’s goal.

And Liverpool were ahead in the 14th minute with the first shot of the game on target. A well-worked corner routine saw the ball pulled back to Salah whose hit deflected off Nathan Ake and over Ederson’s dive.

City, again without Erling Haaland, continued to control the game with Slot’s side using the speed of Salah and Luis Diaz on the break to cause us problems.

In the battle of the Egyptian superstars, Salah had made the early impact while Omar Marmoush smashed a 20-yard strike that was comfortably saved by Alisson.

Our number seven then thought he had equalised on the half hour to round off a smart move involving Rico Lewis and Savinho, but the assistant referee’s flag went up shortly after the ball rebounded off the inside of the post and over the line.

From being close to being level, Liverpool doubled their advantage before half-time from another quick counter-attack that saw Szoboszlai fire a low shot into the bottom corner.

Liverpool celebrated a third goal shortly before the hour when Curtis Jones tapped in Szoboszlai’s pass but the Hungarian midfielder was offside in the build-up after it was checked by VAR.

And it almost produced an instant turnaround with Marmoush drilling a shot that was pushed wide by Alisson seconds later.

City kept pushing for a way back into the game with Savinho darting into the box on a thrilling run while Doku shot straight at Alisson from a good position.

But despite the constant pressure, Liverpool maintained their threat on the counter-attack and Abdukodir Khusanov made a superb block as Szoboszlai threatened to score a third. 

And there was a bizarre moment late on when Kostas Tsimikas’ volleyed towards his own goal. With Allison about to head it clear, an awkward gust meant he made a late decision to pluck the ball out of the air with his hand with the referee deeming it not to be a back pass.

City kept pushing forward to the final seconds but it was another frustrating afternoon for Guardiola‘s side. 

TEAMS

City: Ederson, Lewis, Khusanov, Ake (Dias 78), Gvardiol, Nico (Kovacic 78), De Bruyne (McAtee 66), Savinho, Foden, Doku, Marmoush (Gundogan 78)

Subs not used: Ortega Moreno, Grealish, Bernardo, Reis, Nunes

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold (Quansah 91+2), Konate, van Dijk, Robertson (Tsimikas 74), Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones (Endo 74), Szoboszlai, Salah (Elliott 91+2), Diaz (Gakpo 79)

Subs not used: Kelleher, Nunez, Chiesa, Jota

WING MAN

When Alexander-Arnold closes his eyes tonight, he might see Doku’s dancing feet after a mesmerising 90 minutes.

In the first half alone, the City winger dribbled past him eight times and was a constant menace on our left flank.

Liverpool regularly flooded their own box with bodies when City got the ball out wide with Savinho also looking menacing on the right.

Picking a way past the giants of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk was trickier for the wide men, particularly without the physicality of Haaland to match them.

Still it was an encouraging return for the Belgium in his first start for over a month.

Pep Guardiola reaction

“We played very good. Maybe we missed more productivity in the shots but we played against a fantastic team. Maybe at the start it was 50-50 and we could not convert.

“Second half they defended very deep. We have done something we have not tried for many games which was we brought them to their box and tried to beat them there.

“The tactic was to arrive in the final third and the byline and it happened a lot but we did not score. We missed the next bit a little bit and with crosses it is almost impossible to do it because of their size. We could not find the next step.”

DOKU reaction

“We tried. I had a lot of attacking situations but after the two goals that they scored they played very deep. 

“They defended very well and then played on the counter-attack so it was hard for us to find spaces.

“Some games are like that. We just have to keep on going and take the good things from the game.”

What it means

City remain fourth in the Premier League and occupying the final qualification place for the 2025/26 Champions League. 

What’s next

We’re quickly back in action with a trip to Tottenham in the Premier League on Wednesday 26 February at 19:30 (UK).

Our next match at the Etihad is against Plymouth Argyle on the FA Cup on Saturday 1 March at 17:45 (UK).

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