Man. City suffered their first defeat of the season

City suffered their first Premier League defeat of the season after Mo Salah’s second-half goal drew the teams level at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah’s stunning second-half goal saw Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 in another classic Premier League clash between the teams at a raucous Anfield.

A 76th-minute winner, which echoed Salah’s famous goal against Manchester United in January 2020, and Alisson Becker’s pinpoint pass, which was superbly finished, set up a dramatic and action-packed rivalry between the powerhouses in recent seasons.

In the absence of Ibrahim Konate and Joel Matip, Joe Gomez started Virgil van Dijk at centre-back, with James Milner replacing him at right-back.

Andy Robertson returned to the starting line-up alongside Salah, while Trent Alexander-Arnold was in good enough form to be named on the bench.

It came after Phil Foden saw a goal disallowed following a VAR review and before Jurgen Klopp was sent off as the atmosphere reached boiling point.

A tense final 15 minutes followed Salah’s moment of brilliance but the Reds held on to claim an excellent and much-needed victory.

The game settled into a rhythm with City enjoying most of the ball while the Reds waited for moments to pounce and break through with speed and drive.

Hard defensive work from Gomez thwarted Erling Haaland before the crowd cheered as Salah parried Nathan Ake and shot across goal, only for Ruben Diaz to step in and turn it back.

It was Liverpool’s most productive period of the half as Diogo Hota saw his header cleared before a flurry of passes ended with Robertson tipping the ball over the bar after Ederson had cleared Milner’s cross.

City were warned to maintain their threat, creating one last opportunity to increase their pace and quality after the break when Kevin De Bruyne picked out Holland at the back post. However, the Norwegian could immediately attack Alison.

After the first 45 minutes, a melee broke out immediately after the break.

First, on Liverpool’s counter-attack, Firmino picked out Salah across City’s top line and the Egyptian fired low into the bottom corner before Ederson made a superb save to keep out the effort.

However, the corner was disallowed and City soon thought they had taken the lead thanks to Foden, but referee Anthony Taylor disallowed the goal after a VAR review after Haaland fouled Fabinho in the build-up.

Giotto nodded into the side-netting after the break as Salah fired over and the excitement at Anfield was at an astonishing level despite the Portuguese striker being ambushed.

Salah then toasted Firmino before Alisson slotted home Holland’s effort.

Klopp tried to freshen up his squad with a triple substitution, with Darwin Nunez, Jordan Henderson and Fabio Carvalho replacing Firmino, Fabinho and Harvey Elliott.

However, it seemed inevitable that Salah would put the Reds ahead – and he did after 15 minutes when he and Alisson repeated the same goal against United.

Salah produced a superb first strike, latching on to Alisson’s incredible mid-air cross and flicking it away from Joao Cancela in one fluid movement, before darting towards the Kop before calmly slotting past Ederson. Bedlam signal.

Pep Guardiola said about the encounter:

Substitutes not used: Kelleher, Jones, Bajcetic, Phillips

Substitutes not used: Ortega Moreno, Grealish, Gomez, Laporte, Mahrez, Palmer, Lewis, Wilson-Esbrand

Match Stats:

Possession

Total Shots

Shots on Target

Corners

Fouls

Attacks

Dangerous Attacks

Player of the Match: Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)