Liverpool 1 Man City 2
What a second half of football. I’ve got to say that I like everyone else was quite disappointed with that first half, it’s become the norm under Arne Slot this season anyway to start quite slow at Anfield and this let City control most of the first half without creating a plethora of chances other than the one Haaland had at the start of the game which Kerkez did brilliantly to stop him scoring. The second half was completely different with Liverpool upping the tempo and starting to create some chances which Ekitike really should have converted but the scoring was opened by Dominic Szobozslai who scored a worldy of a free-kick from over 30 yards to give Liverpool the lead. Ten minutes later City equalise through Bernardo Silva who immediately picked up the ball and put it in the middle to set up and grand stand finish. Alisson then decides to fly out with a challenge on Matheus Nunes which gives City a penalty to win the game and that’s exactly what Haaland did giving City an absolutely massive win at Anfield to keep their title hopes alive.
Big character shown by the City players in the second half. Gary Neville was saying it on commentary that City needed their senior players to step up and drag City back into the game and that’s exactly what Bernardo Silva did grabbing the equaliser from Haaland’s knock on header, Haaland didn’t have his greatest match but in the big moments he stepped up for City in their time of need. You’ll remember Riyad Mahrez skying a penalty in added time a few years ago at the same end but Haaland didn’t make that same mistake going low and hard to the bottom corner past Alisson who went the right way but couldn’t save it. This was a must win game for City to try and keep up with Arsenal but also to try and build some momentum in the league, Pep will be keen to try and build on this win over the next few weeks and try and close the gap to Arsenal which is now at 6 points.
Another poor performance from Liverpool. The first half basically summed up Liverpool this season lacking creatively and taking far too long on the ball in the midfield, the attack which looked so good against Newcastle last week failed to make any impact at all in the game with Ekitike missing two guilt edge chances in the second half and Wirtz failing to impose himself in a big game yet again. Gakpo and Salah were also poor on the day along with the midfield two of Gravenberch-Mac Allister taking sloppy touches throughout the game, regardless Liverpool had the lead thanks a wonderful free-kick and didn’t take advantage after it to seal the game against a City side which didn’t really look like scoring throughout much of the match. A trip to Sunderland during the week for Liverpool won’t be much easier against a team unbeaten at home so far this season, a big test of character ahead for Liverpool in the race for Champions League football.
Should Cities 3rd goal have been disallowed? With Liverpool chasing the equaliser Alisson decided to go forward for the last minute or two opening up the net for City if they got the ball which is exactly what happened as Cherki shot from close to the half-way line into an empty net, the shot from Cherki was quite slow and as Haaland and Szobozslai gave chase they basically fouled each other as the ball rolled into the net, the referee initially gave the goal but was then sent to the monitor for review and ruled the goal out awarding a red card to Szobozslai for denial of a goal scoring opportunity. This has left the football community quite split as many have been saying that they should have just allowed the goal but I think the decision is the right one as the ref played advantage after Szobozslai pulled back Haaland but once Haaland fouled Szobozslai back the advantage ended as the ref would have given a foul if the advantage wasn’t played if that makes sense. It didn’t affect the result but Liverpool will be without Szobozslai for Sunderland during the week but that will be the only game he misses as it wasn’t violent conduct, what a mess.
Title race still alive for City. Arsenal fans were probably getting excited with the thought of going 9 points clear after Liverpool went 1-0 up but 6 points is still more than catchable especially with Arsenal having to go to the Etihad in April which could just decide the title if they are still close. Arsenal have to go to Brentford in the week which has been a horrible place for most teams so far this season so that gap could close further if City beat Fulham at home. There is no sign of Arsenal slowing down any time soon but that result will have hurt them a wee bit knowing they could have been 9 points clear. Will history repeat itself again this season or can Arsenal finish the season stronger than they ever have in the last few years? Only time will tell.