Liverpool beat Manchester City 2-0 in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium last Sunday, February 23, to go 11 points clear at the top of the league table.
Liverpool now have 64 points from 27 matches, while City remain in fourth place with 44 points from 26 matches.
For Liverpool, the inevitability of goal contributions by Mohamed Salah remained there, with the Egyptian notching up a goal and an assist on the day. Dominik Szoboszlai scored the second goal following suit after Salah.
Manchester City failed to Penetrate through Liverpool’s Wall of Defence
The Cityzens started with a 3-2-4-1 with Rico Lewis as the hybrid right-back and Nico Gonzalez as the other defensive midfielder.
Kevin de Bruyne and Omar Marmoush started as the two central attacking midfielders, with Jérémy Doku and Savinho on the flanks.
Phil Foden started as the false nine in Erling Haaland’s absence. However, both De Bruyne and Foden had negligible impact on the game.
Manchester City primarily attacked through the flanks, with Doku giving Trent Alexander-Arnold some tough time.
However, the Liverpool defence, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate at the heart of it, stayed solid for the most part.
The Reds also got a couple of relatively easy goals in the first half. After the first goal, Liverpool mostly stayed deep and relied on counter-attacks to explore the space inside Manchester City’s half.
They got their second goal through one such counter-attack. The Reds thus led by a couple of goals by the half-time. After the break, too, Liverpool held firm to deny Manchester City a chance to bounce back.
Doku and Savinho continued to attack through the flanks, but de Bruyne had a forgettable outing and had to be substituted.
The wingers made it into the Liverpool box pretty often, but the likes of Foden and De Bruyne lost themselves amid the crowd of Liverpool defenders, unable to meet the crosses from the wings.
Savinho’s tendency to hold on to the ball for too long and Marmoush’s apparent inability to engage in frequent passes with his fellow midfielders remained a concern for Manchester City.
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Long Road Ahead
The English champions will face Tottenham Hotspur, Nottingham Forest and Brighton & Hove Albion in their next three Premier League matches.
Each of those three matches is potentially tough and Manchester City will not find it easy to collect points from them.
Pep Guardiola’s men also have an FA Cup fifth-round match against Plymouth Argyle lined up at the beginning of next month.
At the moment, the FA Cup provided them with the best opportunity to win silverware.
However, finishing inside the top four remains a difficult task for Man City. Each of Newcastle United, Chelsea and AFC Bournemouth will fancy their chances of finishing inside the top four at the moment.
Only a point separates four teams at the moment, with Nottingham Forest also in the race for the third and fourth positions.
It has been a season to forget for Manchester City, but they can still make something out of it by winning the FA Cup and finishing inside the top four.
However, going by their current form, neither option seems to be an easy task.
Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / Action Plus
Recording Date: 23.02.2025