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Manchester City dismantled Liverpool, aided by Alisson Becker’s unusual goalkeeper mistakes, to win 4-1 on Sunday (Monday NZ) and inflict the Premier League champions’ third straight loss at the old fortress. from Anfield.
A City’s first win at Liverpool since 2003, triggered by a double by Ilkay Gundogan, brings Pep Guardiola’s team closer to reclaiming the trophy.
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Ilkay Gundogan (R) of Manchester City scores one of his two goals after missing a penalty in a 4-1 win over Liverpool.
While City were five points behind Manchester United at the top of the standings, Liverpool slipped 10 points behind the leaders in a faltering title defense.
Since 1963, Liverpool have not lost a hat trick from league matches at home. And this is a stadium where they had been undefeated in 68 games until Burnley won last month and Brighton followed up with another win on Wednesday.
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Anfield’s scoreline confirms Liverpool’s third consecutive defeat at home.
Gundogan sent a first-half penalty to the Kop before scoring four minutes after the break after the first of Alisson’s mistakes.
Mohamed Salah tied from the point before Gundogan scored again. Raheem Sterling headed in third and Phil Foden drove off an angled drive.
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Phil Foden (C) of Manchester City celebrates with his teammates after scoring the final goal in a 4-1 win over Liverpool.
“Today we will celebrate, but tomorrow our feet will hit the grass again. In February nobody is a champion. I cannot predict the future, all I can predict is work and work,” Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said in BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I am very grateful to my players, but this is in the past, we have done brilliantly so I cannot deny how happy we are. But we are in February. For Manchester City, three points and to come here and finally win, It’s very important.”
Rival coach Jürgen Klopp lamented Liverpool’s “big mistakes.
“In every game, when you make these kinds of mistakes, you are very likely to concede goals. I think it’s easy to agree that the first half was a really good game, two teams really tried a lot to cause problems for each other, and I really like what I saw in the game, ” Klopp told BBC.
“Coming out in the second half they changed the system and we didn’t move enough in midfield. We made our goal and at that point it was possible that the game would go our way, but Alisson made two massive mistakes, conceded two goals. and then a great Phil Foden situation. ”
Kane shines for Spurs
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Harry Kane scored on his return from the Spurs in a 2-0 win over West Brom.
Harry Kane has highlighted his importance to Tottenham as he returned from injury and helped his team stop the rot by scoring in a 2-0 victory over West Brom in the Premier League.
Kane had missed the last two and a half games after coming out with an ankle injury against Liverpool and things could hardly have been worse for José Mourinho’s men since they were beaten in all three.
But the England captain made a quick comeback and put the Spurs on their way against the Baggies with their thirteenth Premier League goal of the season, and Son Heung-min also found the net in a much-needed victory on Sunday.
Coach Mourinho admitted that seventh-placed Tottenham are dependent on Kane.
“He is one of the best strikers in the world. Period,” Mourinho said.
“There is nothing more to say. The team depends a lot on him, we cannot hide that.
“It’s the goals he can score, the assists he can make, the bonding game he has, that personality that players like that can have, and he’s always an important influence for us.”
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Harry Kane scores the Spurs’ first goal against West Brom.
The Spurs had been shy in their previous two games without Kane, but they had a string of early efforts in the first 20 minutes.
Kane was the obvious catalyst, but he was unusually rusty in front of goal.
He first hit the post after being placed by Serge Aurier and then rolled a deflected effort after Tanguy Ndombele cleared him. He also put goalkeeper Sam Johnstone’s handling to the test with a fierce shot at the far post.
But West Brom couldn’t trust Kane to continue to fail, scoring in the 54th minute with a low finish, his 20th goal of the season in all competitions.
Meanwhile, Leicester City held a stalemate against the Wolves, missing an opportunity to apply serious pressure at the top of the table.
Brendan Rodgers’ side would have tied Manchester United for second with a victory, but they were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw at Molineux.
They rarely threatened, even when Jamie Vardy made his comeback after a short break after groin surgery, although the forward headed wide in overtime.
The Foxes remain third, four points ahead of West Ham fifth in the battle for Champions League spots, while the Wolves remain 14th with just one win in their last 10 games.
