Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium to move into second place in the Premier League table.
Erling Haaland put City ahead with a header for his 99th Premier League goal after Giorgi Mamardashvili had saved his penalty. Nico Gonzalez added a deflected strike in first-half stoppage time.
Jeremy Doku scored the third goal and was named player of the match. The result came in Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game as a manager.
Liverpool suffer seventh defeat in 10 games as Manchester City win 3-0 at Etihad Stadium
Liverpool had a Virgil van Dijk goal disallowed because Andrew Robertson was in an offside position. Arne Slot compared the decision to a goal Manchester City were awarded against Wolves last season.
“I think it’s obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made, at least in my opinion. Because he [Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do,” Slot said.
“Immediately after the game someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed City against Wolves last season [John Stones’ winner]. So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it’s offside. So there was clearly communication.”
Doku torments Liverpool defence
Doku received a rating of nine out of 10 for his performance. He created space against Liverpool’s low block and exploited gaps when racing forward.
The goals from Nico and Doku were their first in the Premier League this season. Before this match, Manchester City’s second-highest goalscorer in the league was Burnley’s Maxime Esteve with two own goals from a 5-1 defeat in September.
The three points lifted City above Chelsea into second place. They are now four points behind leaders Arsenal following their draw at Sunderland.
City have collected the most points of any Premier League team since April.
Liverpool’s form continues to decline
The defeat was Liverpool’s seventh in 10 games across all competitions. The reigning champions sit in eighth place in the table.
Slot kept the same team that started against Real Madrid in midweek, with Florian Wirtz preferred to Cody Gakpo. Alexander Isak was fit enough for the bench.
“That could have influenced the game in a positive way for us because in the first half we were so poor,” Slot said of the disallowed goal.
“We would have been lucky going 1-0 down at half-time, let alone if it was 1-1 or 2-1 down. So it has been an influential decision, which is not to say that we then would have had a result over here because you cannot predict how the second half would have gone.”
Team selections
Guardiola picked Rayan Cherki for his 1,000th game as a manager with Haaland leading the line. The injured Rodri was not in the squad.
Wirtz continues to perform without making the impact expected from a player with his price tag. Hugo Ekitike was quiet and Mohamed Salah’s struggle for form continued.
Chris Kavanagh was the referee for the match.
