Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City: Mohamed Salah dents champions’ title defence
Mohamed Salah and Liverpool continued their resurgence in a hard-fought win that dented Manchester City’s Premier League title defence on Sunday.
Salah, who was left on the bench against Rangers in midweek, scored the only goal of the game when he turned Joao Cancelo and slotted past Ederson in the 76th minute.
Liverpool’s first win in four top-flight games lifted them to eighth in the table and ensured that City slipped four points behind leaders Arsenal.
City thought they had taken the lead early in the second half but Phil Foden’s goal was disallowed for a foul by Erling Haaland after a video assistant referee review.
Super Salah fires Liverpool revival
Liverpool’s leading scorer for the last five seasons, Salah has been a lightning rod for criticism of their sluggish start to this campaign.
He was hooked early in last weekend’s defeat at Arsenal and dropped to the bench in midweek, only to come on and bag a six-minute hat-trick in Glasgow.
That cameo saw Salah play at centre-forward and against City he was also able to get into central areas more than in recent weeks.
He was helped in that regard by Roberto Firmino’s movement as a false nine, raising questions as to whether he can be as effective when striker Darwin Nunez starts.
Salah might have scored with an earlier one-on-one, only for Ederson to tip his effort wide, but redeemed himself at the second attempt.
“I worry more when there are no chances for me but today we created chances,” he said. “When I missed the first one I was calm because I knew the second one was going to come.”
City’s Anfield hoodoo continues
On paper, free-scoring City and record-breaking Erling Haaland looked set to run amok against a Liverpool team who had kept just two clean sheets in the league.
But if there is one ground where Pep Guardiola’s side have consistently struggled to reproduce their best then it is surely Anfield.
This defeat made it just one win and two draws from their eight visits to Liverpool with the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager in charge.
Not for the first time, City looked weakened by a tactical tweak that saw full-back Cancelo play as the most advanced right-sided player and Bernardo Silva in a deeper midfield role.
The hitherto virtually unstoppable Haaland was a peripheral figure, his best chances being headers that he sent over and into the arms of Alisson respectively.
Guardiola complained afterwards that referee Anthony Taylor had abandoned his pre-match pledge to let the game flow by disallowing Foden’s goal.
“The ref decided before the game that he is not going to whistle, then after we score a goal he said foul,” he said. “This is Anfield.”
What it all means
City’s loss saw them lose further ground to Arsenal, who won earlier at Leeds, but they remain odds-on favourites to retain their crown – understandably so, given they have won three of the last four titles and have much greater squad depth.
For Liverpool, it was a throwback to performances in recent seasons and a vast improvement on much of the current campaign.
That it came with Nunez dropped and Salah to the fore again poses tactical questions for Klopp, who was delighted to continue his strong record against Guardiola.
“It was perfect performance in a really good, intense game,” he said. “We know how strong the opponent is. We showed up today and that’s all we wanted to do.”
Klopp’s day was slightly soured by his sending off five minutes from time for angrily protesting a challenge by Bernardo Silva on Salah.
“In the end it was probably deserved but in that situation you cannot not whistle for a free kick,” he said. It’s the clearest foul I ever saw right in front of the linesman.”