Manchester City 3 Liverpool 0: match reportDoku dazzles in huge victory over Liverpool for the Blues to move second
Manchester City brushed aside Liverpool 3-0 on Sunday afternoon, moving to 2nd in the Premier League table, 4 points behind Arsenal who faltered against Sunderland. Donnarumma started between the sticks. Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, and O’Reilly were in the back line. Gonzalez, Foden, and Bernardo Silva were in the midfield with Doku, Cherki, and Haaland in attack,
The Blues dominated and this showed from the start. Jeremy Doku was everywhere on the pitch and not just causing chaos on the wing, giving Connor Bradley and Liverpool a torrid time defending. In the 9th minute, Doku jogged past Bradley and Konate and attempted to hit a shot off but was brought down by the foot of goalkeeper Mamardashavili. After initially being waived by referee Chris Kavanagh, he was called over for a review and after watching the incident back, awarded a penalty to City. Haaland stepped up but his penalty was saved and City were still level.
The penalty miss was not to burden Haaland for long though and got his moment 20 minutes later. Nunes played an excellent cross in from the right and the ball deflected off Konate on to the head of Haaland and the ball went sailing into the net to give the Blues a deserved lead to show for their dominance.
Controversy followed shortly after the goal. Liverpool were awarded a corner on the right side of the pitch. An inswinger from Salah met the head of Van Dijk perfectly into the net and Liverpool though they were level. After a few moments, the celebrations were cut short and it was deemed that Robertson had impeded Donnarumma in an offside position despite his attempt to duck away in time. The decision was confirmed and checked by VAR and City still led.
Moments later, salt was rubbed in the wounds for Liverpool when Nico Gonzalez received the ball off Bernardo in added time and took a shot from distance that found its way in the back of the net after a huge deflection off Van Dijk. City led at half time 2-0.
In the second half, City held firm defensively and Liverpool were unable to bring themselves back in the game. Frustratingly for the visitors, they were called offside a total of 7 times in their attempts to find a goal. Gakpo had a shot towards an exposed area of the City goal but blazed it over the bar. In the 63rd minute, the Blues had the ball in their half again, O’Reilly passed to Doku, who turned and shot from outside the box and the ball curled into top right corner to make it 3-0 and seal the points for the Blues. The goal capped off a star performance for the Belgian winger.
City held firm in defence for the remainder of the game, Donnarumma made a brilliant save from a Szoboszlai effort, O’Reilly handled Salah perfectly and there was no way through for Liverpool on this occasion, not even for a consolation. City saw the game out and the final result was 3-0.
City have now won all 3 of their home games at the start of the month, rather convincingly too and are in a very good position going into the international break, 4 points off Arsenal sitting in second place. City will know not to take anything for granted, especially after last season but these wins will have given them immense confidence and signal intent for the rest of the campaign. A tough test away at Newcastle is the first challenge for City after the international break. While looking strong at home, City will want to replicate this form away as best they can.
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