Pep Guardiola's side were too good for their old rivals at the Etihad Stadium as they kept up the heat on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League
Manchester City are still very much standing in the Premier League title race, after keeping up the heat on leaders Arsenal with a 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool on Saturday.
Pep Guardiola's side trailed early on to Mohamed Salah's goal at the Etihad Stadium but, even without their injured top scorer Erling Haaland, hit back to equalise through Julian Alvarez before half-time, and then took control in ruthless fashion after the break.
Kevin De Bruyne netted within 60 seconds of the restart, and further goals from Ilkay Gundogan and the brilliant Jack Grealish condemned Liverpool to another chastening loss, against a side who were not so long ago their equals, but who now sit 22 points ahead of them in the table.
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GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Jack Grealish
When you pay a record transfer fee for a player, it’s so they perform in games like this, and Grealish, who has not had the easiest of times at City, certainly lived up to his star billing here.
His goal, City’s fourth, capped a Man-of-the-Match display from the £100 million ($123m) man, who may have spent Saturday morning in the toilet due to illness, but was far too hot for Liverpool to handle thereafter.
Grealish, brilliant throughout, was decisive at both ends in the first half, setting up Julian Alvarez for City’s equaliser just moments after sprinting back crucially to stop Mohamed Salah laying on a goal for Diogo Jota at the other end.
His tussle with Trent Alexander-Arnold was a feature of a niggly first 45 minutes, the pair clashing on numerous occasions, with Alexander-Arnold perhaps fortunate to avoid a yellow card after a couple of fouls on his England pal.
Grealish, though, won the battle comprehensively, tormenting Liverpool with his touch and dribbling skills.
Fittingly, it was he who finished the Reds off late on by sliding home Kevin De Bruyne’s pass to make it 4-1. The best performance he’s delivered in a City shirt? It just might be.
AdvertisementLOSER: Mohamed Salah
The cheers from the City supporters will have felt like a dagger through the heart of Liverpool's Egyptian King, as the fourth official raised his board bearing the No.11.
There were still 20 minutes remaining when Salah was withdrawn, but his side had long since given up on the idea of rescuing something from the game.
Salah, who had given them the lead in the first half, had faded as quickly as the Reds’ top-four hopes, and his frown as he trudged to the sideline, to be replaced by Darwin Nunez, said it all.
It could have been so different. Salah’s finish to open the scoring was clinical, his 23rd of the season and the fourth he has scored against City in four games this season. Typical Salah.
But he also wasted a glorious chance to extend the Reds’ lead, failing to pick out Jota after being sent clear by Harvey Elliott on the break. Grealish intercepted, a few minutes later City were level and Liverpool’s chance, literally and metaphorically, had been and gone.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Julian Alvarez
No Erling Haaland? No problem. Not when your back-up forward is as good as Manchester City's is.
The absence of the Premier League's top scorer was the headline news when the teams dropped an hour before kick-off, but in Alvarez, Pep Guardiola has a more-than-able deputy, one whose skill, movement and finishing prowess would make him an automatic starter for most clubs in the world.
Alvarez got City back into the game, rounding off a flowing move with a close-range finish, and his sharpness and ability to link the play, connecting with the likes of Grealish, De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez, meant there could be no switching off from Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, Liverpool’s overworked centre-backs.
He created City’s second goal, his beautiful pass allowing Mahrez to set up De Bruyne, and had a hand in the third as well, his shot blocked by Alexander-Arnold before Ilkay Gundogan netted.
Haaland, watching in the executive suites, celebrated accordingly. He’ll return to the City starting line up soon enough, of course, but there’s every chance he’ll be playing alongside his young understudy when he does. Alvarez, quite simply, is too good to sit on the bench for any team.
Getty ImagesLOSER: Andy Robertson
When you play against a team like City, every mistake, however minor, has the potential to prove fatal. And unfortunately for Robertson, he made a few too many of them on the day.
It was his unsuccessful attempt to press De Bruyne on the halfway line which started the move for Alvarez’s equaliser. He was only a yard or so away from winning the ball, but a yard or so may as well be a mile against this opposition. Mahrez, Grealish and Alvarez punished him accordingly.
And they did so again just after the half-time, Robertson playing Mahrez onside as he ran on to Alvarez’s pass and set up De Bruyne. Less than 60 seconds after the restart, the game was gone.
The Scot, unsurprisingly, was replaced by Kostas Tsimikas late on, and wore the look of a man who knew he has had many, many better days than this in a Liverpool shirt.