Ruthless, efficient, controlled, and ultimately a statement 2-0 victory away to the champions. Liverpool have surely put one hand on the Premiership trophy, taking advantage of Arsenal’s surprise home defeat, after goals from Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai saw off Manchester City.
It was a training ground corner routine that saw Liverpool take the lead. A drilled pass to Szoboszlai from Alexis Mac Allister, the Hungarian deftly touching it on to Salah, whose deflected shot flew past a helpless Edison. There were barely 15 minutes on the clock when the Egyptian put his team in front, but the pattern of the match was clearly established, with Liverpool happy to soak up pressure and play on the break. With a packed midfield, disciplined compact defending, City were relying on Doku to undo Liverpool, and at times he gave Trent a torrid time. Yet, as is so often the case with wingers, he lacks the end product far too often. Alisson was barely troubled.
Liverpool doubled their lead just after the half hour. Trent found Salah wide right, who dribbled in to the City penalty area, before setting up Szoboszlai, the Hungarian finishing smartly with his left foot.
City, though clearly not at their best or their strongest with Haaland not even in the squad, continued to dominate possession. However, without ever creating a clear cut chance, Liverpool constantly offered a threat on the break and looked likely to add to their goal tally with each attack.
The second half quickly settled into a near replica of the first. Liverpool found the net once more, but this time VAR rightly ruled Szoboszlai offside when he set up a tap in for Curtis Jones. City, if anything, had even more of the ball but just couldn’t find a way through, with Alisson rarely called upon. The champions looked toothless, short of ideas, and Liverpool took a vital three points without too much alarm.
In his post-match comments, Arne Slot slightly bemoaned his team’s lack of possession, whilst rightly acknowledging just how well they defended. A clean sheet was particularly welcome after losing late points at Goodison and conceding another brace at Villa Park. Ibou Konate and ‘our number four’ were superb, whilst the work rate in midfield was phenomenal, surrounding the ball, and sniffing out danger. It was a perfect away performance and, with an 11 point lead at the top of the league, surely Liverpool have one hand on the league crown.
