Hello and welcome to The Athletic'slive coverage of this huge Premier League game between Liverpool and Manchester City.Reigning champions City have started ...
“You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market, no matter what it costs, you just do it. In the past few seasons, this has traditionally been a clash of the league’s top two teams. I know City will not like it, nobody will like it, you’ve asked the question, but you know the answer. The problem v City is if you close him down with too many players it opens space for other world-class players." Nobody can compete with City in that. Reigning champions City have started the season well and are unbeaten so far.
While injuries and poor form have seen Liverpool sink to an unfamiliar 11th place in the Premier League table, defending champions Man City are neck-and-neck ...
— Manuel Akanji has done well to help fill the gap that the absence of Stones and Walker has created, earning a start here. Given the form these two sides have shown as late, there is absolutely no need for the Spaniard to come up with a surprising tactical framework. This Liverpool vs.
Mohamed Salah scored from Alisson's clearance after Phil Foden had a goal ruled out by VAR, while Jürgen Klopp was sent off.
The game ignited in the 53rd minute after VAR intervened to thwart Foden, who forced the ball in off Gomez from a tight angle. The City defender, who started on the left of a back three, stood firm. When he led a three-on-one Liverpool break, he elected to shoot instead of play in Diogo Jota or Salah – the effort was blocked, amid howls from the crowd – and then after Jota had gone down injured, he got an attempted chipped finish all wrong when clean through. For the first time in a long time it was not the City striker’s day. The City manager could not understand why Haaland had been penalised for the shirt pull when the referee, Anthony Taylor, had allowed play to go on for most of the afternoon. When Salah rampaged clear, one-on-one with Ederson, his mind might have gone back to the 50th minute when he was similarly placed against the City goalkeeper after a Roberto Firmino through-ball.