Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's opening goal against Liverpool in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, November 9, 2025. /VCG
Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's opening goal against Liverpool in a Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, England, November 9, 2025. /VCG
Manchester City celebrated Pep Guardiola's 1,000th game as a manager with a 3-0 home win against Liverpool that lifted the club back into the Premier League title race, while Nottingham Forest beat Leeds 3-1 at home to bolster their survival bid on Sunday.
Erling Haaland missed an early penalty kick at the Etihad Stadium, but the City striker recovered to give Guardiola's side the lead. Nico Gonzalez increased their advantage before halftime, with Jeremy Doku capping his Player of the Match performance by notching the home side's third in the second half.
The dominant win was a perfect way for former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss Guardiola to mark the latest milestone in a glittering 17-year career highlighted by 716 victories.
Second-placed City are just four points behind leaders Arsenal, who conceded a last-gasp equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Sunderland on Saturday. City's seventh win in their last eight matches in all competitions dealt a major blow to Liverpool's hopes of retaining the title.
The troubled champions have lost seven of their last 10 games in all competitions to trail Arsenal by eight points. The Reds are mired in eighth place after the momentum from successive wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid dissipated into the rainy Manchester air.
At Nottingham's City Ground, Forest fell behind on Lukas Nmecha's 13th-minute opener for Leeds. But Ibrahim Sangare equalized two minutes later, and Morgan Gibbs-White headed home in the 68th minute, before Elliot Anderson converted a stoppage-time penalty kick.
The win marked Forest's first league victory since beating Brentford on the season's opening weekend in August.
Nuno Espirito Santo was in charge of Forest then, before being sacked to make way for Ange Postecoglou, whose brief reign also ended in dismissal, paving the way for Sean Dyche to take charge. Second-bottom Forest's maiden top-flight triumph under Dyche's management moved the team one point from safety.
Aston Villa thrashed Bournemouth 4-0 to make it five wins from their last six league games. Emiliano Buendia, Amadou Onana, Ross Barkley and Donyell Malen scored at Villa Park, while Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo saw a penalty kick saved by home goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Source(s): AFP