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Salah seals dominant Liverpool win over Manchester City in major title race blow
When times have been tough in the past for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, there has always been the sense they will pull through; it will be OK. Almost to the extent there has been little dramatic tension around them, only inevitability. Not now.
The City machine looks broken, the certainties that have driven them for so long absent, the control gone. They got exactly what they deserved on a highly charged Anfield occasion – another defeat, a sixth in seven matches in all competitions, a fourth in succession in the Premier League and it is almost impossible to see them defending their title from here.
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The delirious Liverpool crowd informed Guardiola that he would be sacked in the morning, which prompted him to raise six digits in their direction, one for each of his championships in England. It was an isolated act of defiance from someone with the club’s crest on his chest.
Liverpool were virtually perfect. They were everything City were not; suffocating at the back, energetic and physical, slick on the ball, menacing in front of goal. Cody Gakpo’s opener was scant reward for their initial dominance but it was never going to be an afternoon when Arne Slot’s team did anything other than extend their lead over second-placed Arsenal to nine points. And put 11 points between themselves and City, who lag in fifth.
Guardiola had admitted that his players were suffering, as is he, and there is no doubt that this is the biggest crisis of his City tenure. At least there is some jeopardy now. Mohamed Salah made the points safe for Liverpool from the penalty spot, having supplied the assist for Gakpo, and there is surely no way the club can allow him to leave on a free transfer next summer.
Salah’s numbers for the campaign show 13 goals and 11 assists from 20 appearances while Slot’s Liverpool record also bears printing: W18 D1 L1. The title is his to lose.
City were at odds beforehand of 2-1 or longer to win with every bookmaker, the first time since Guardiola’s first season at the club in 2016-17 they had not been the favourites for a league game. City as the plucky underdogs? It went into the surreal mix, as did Guardiola’s record at Anfield. Only once in nine previous visits had his City team enjoyed victory – and that was when the ground was empty for the league fixture in the pandemic season of 2020-21.
It was rocking here, the home crowd sensing blood and tasting it after 12 minutes. Nobody could say the breakthrough was not advertised; moments earlier, Virgil van Dijk had hit the far post with a thumping header.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was the architect of the goal, pinging a diagonal up the inside right for Salah, who had acres of space into which to run – and not for the last time. Manuel Akanji tried to cover but Salah cut inside to curve over a beautiful low cross. Less beautiful from a City point of view was how Kyle Walker stopped to watch Gakpo attack the far post and tap home.
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It was the symbol of what was a horrible start by City and there were others: loose passes, just a basic timidity. It was the 25th minute before City strung a few passes together inside the Liverpool half and, even then, they ended going all the way back to Stefan Ortega, who Guardiola had preferred to Ederson; red shirts hounding them every step of the way.
Liverpool could have been further ahead by then because Van Dijk was guilty of heading off target from an Alexis Mac Allister corner. The captain was free; he seemed certain to score. The excellent Dominik Szoboszlai had worked Ortega with a stinging drive in the early going and there was the moment when Liverpool won the ball high up and Gakpo ended up lifting high.
City stabilised over the final 20 minutes of the first half, although it was jarring to see how low their threat levels were, particularly up the wings. They wanted extra touches and Liverpool were in no mood to give them time. City’s only flicker before the interval came on 39 minutes when Rico Lewis prodded past the far post after a pass from the otherwise anonymous Erling Haaland. Just before that, Alexander‑Arnold had fizzed inches wide after a corner came out to him.
Liverpool had further chances for the second after the restart, Matheus Nunes making a saving block to deny Gakpo and, from the resulting corner, Van Dijk flicking a header just over. A thought for City – maybe somebody mark the big man? Salah also blew a gilt-edged one-on-one with Ortega, firing high after Bernardo Silva had played a backpass to Akanji with directions to the Royal Liverpool Hospital on it.
Related: Guardiola’s men look lost as his once impregnable football dynasty falls apart | Jonathan Liew
City got on the ball more in the second period. They tried to work their short passing game. It was an exercise in rebuilding confidence as much as exerting control. Jérémy Doku made a difference when Guardiola introduced him for Nunes and yet where were the chances?
Liverpool continued to look the more dangerous team, Salah especially, and if the priority in the closing stages was to defend securely, then another goal would not hurt. It came when Rúben Dias dallied and Walker took a heavy touch, allowing Luis Díaz to rob him and sprint away. When Ortega was late into the challenge with him, it was an obvious penalty, the only question being whether the goalkeeper would face censure. He did not, Salah’s penalty conversion was punishment enough.
There was time for Van Dijk to err and present Kevin De Bruyne, on as a City substitute, with a one-on-one against the underworked Caoimhín Kelleher. The goalkeeper blocked. For City, the hope must be that this is rock bottom.
