23 February 2025
Man City 0 Liverpool 2
This has turned into the stand-out fixture in the Premier League season in recent years, but this time Pep Guardiola would not be locking horns with his old adversary Jurgen Klopp. Man City have had a torrid season, something we have not come to expect from the defending champions. Liverpool arrived at The Etihad looking to make a statement as the runaway leaders.
After Arsenal’s defeat the day before, it added more incentive for The Reds to secure victory, knowing they would be eleven points clear of their nearest challengers in the table. The hosts came into this home game as underdogs with the bookies, something we had not seen at The Etihad for eight years. This match offered City the chance to put Liverpool back in their box, so to speak.
We are constantly learning about Arne Slot but as the teams were announced he looked to be trying to crowd the middle of the park to deal with the Man City threat. The visitors would have been boosted by the news that Haaland was not in the matchday squad, ruled out with injury. Without him, it was hard to see how City would look to hurt the visitors.
A convincing victory for Liverpool would almost be seen as a changing of the guard as the Premier League top dogs. Despite investing heavily in January, something still seemed to be missing from the old Guardiola side who had proved too much for their rivals each season. The Reds had not found this happy hunting ground historically, having failed to win here for ten years.
There was little to separate the sides in the early stages. Foden had the first effort of the match but he scuffed his shot as it trickled towards Alisson in the visitors’ goal. Doku was already causing problems for Alexander-Arnold who was finding his turn of pace and trickery difficult to deal with. On the other flank Savinho had started to give Robertson a lot to think about.
Liverpool looked dangerous on the attack and were passing it around with Man City chasing shadows. Mac Allister played a short corner to Szoboszlai, who had made the run to the byline. In what seemed a well-rehearsed training ground move, he clipped it first-time towards the penalty spot, where Salah slotted it past Ederson to break the deadlock.
The hosts were all too static and too focussed on their markers with no one noticing the Egyptian winger completely unmarked in the middle. Ederson seemed to have the initial shot covered as he dived at full-stretch, but a deflection off Ake lifted it over him. The away end erupted as the league leaders stamped their authority on the game.
Marmoush was looking lively for the hosts and made a great run into the channel, before drilling his shot past Alisson and into the far corner of the goal. As he wheeled away in celebration, the flag went up to rule it out for offside. As the replay showed, he was stood at least a yard off when the ball was played into his feet.
Guardiola’s side were dominating possession but seemed unable to create any clear cut chances in the final third. They looked like a boxer with all the intent of taking the fight to his opponent but just could not land any punches whatsoever. The Spaniard was looking frustrated on the touchline as he barked out orders to his players.
Then Slot’s side burst forward as Alexander-Arnold’s pinpoint pass set Salah away down the wing. He used his strength and skill to fend off the defenders, before rolling a pass into Szoboszlai. He took one touch to steady himself before drilling the ball into the bottom corner, leaving Ederson rooted to spot as he wrong-footed the City keeper.
Man City’s fans could not believe what was unfolding in front of their eyes. Liverpool were putting them to the sword with their clinical finishing. The stadium had fallen silent with the exception of the away end where the travelling fans were enjoying their day out in Manchester. Despite Man City having so much of the ball, The Reds did not look in any danger whatsoever.
After the interval, the game played out in the same manner. As soon as Guardiola’s side came forward, the visitors had ten men behind the ball making themselves impossible for the defending champions to break down. Liverpool were like a coiled snake, waiting for the right moment to spring into an attack of their own.
As the visitors came forward, Gravenberch slotted a pass through the City defence for Szoboszlai. As he ran towards goal, he unselfishly rolled it to his left for Jones to tap into an empty goal. The Reds thought they had put the game to bed but a VAR review was to deny the goal as their Hungarian midfielder had just strayed offside in the build-up.
This acted as an adrenaline shot to Man City as they immediately got on the front foot. Doku played a cute pass in behind the Liverpool defence for Marmoush to run onto. The striker shot first-time as his effort fizzed towards the far corner, Alisson made a superb fingertip save. Slot’s side almost went from thinking they were home and dry to seeing the hosts reduce their lead, sparking concerns of a comeback.
Liverpool seemed more reserved in the second-half but one attack saw Diaz cut inside onto his right foot, before getting a thunderous shot away. Ederson reacted brilliantly to turn the effort over the crossbar. That save had kept his side in this game, knowing it would only take a single goal to make it a nervy end to the game for the visitors.
Slot’s tactics had really nullified the creativity of Man City. It looked like they could play for another couple of hours and the hosts would still not score. The Reds made a huge statement with this victory, which moved them eleven points clear at the top of the table. The defeat wounded Guardiola as it showed his side still have a long way to go to be challenging for the title again.
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