Manchester City outclassed Liverpool with an outstanding performance at Etihad Stadium, maintaining pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal despite the injury to Erling Haaland.
The 42-goal scorer for City was ruled out due to a groin injury, but Pep Guardiola’s defending champions showed their overall strength by rallying from a goal down against a Liverpool team that has historically been a challenge for them to win convincingly.
After 17 minutes, Liverpool caught City off guard with a counterattack to take the lead. Diogo Jota made the break, and Mohamed Salah scored with a powerful finish.
After 27 minutes, Julian Alvarez equalized for City thanks to the outstanding Jack Grealish, who made a crucial intervention on Salah when Liverpool had the chance to extend their lead.
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53 seconds after the half, City took the lead thanks to an assist from Alvarez. His raking pass found Riyad Mahrez, who then crossed for Kevin de Bruyne to score at the back post.
In an unfamiliar position that required him to move into midfield but also drop back into defense when necessary, John Stones gave a masterful performance. With City in complete control, Ilkay Gundogan added the third goal following a fight in the goalmouth.
Grealish earned a goal, which he duly scored in the 74th minute when he arrived just in time to turn in a cross from De Bruyne as Liverpool finished downed and exhausted.
Grealish gave a performance of the highest caliber, earning a standing ovation when he came on late in the game.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was harassed by the 27-year-old England winger, who also provided Alvarez with an easy equalizer before adding the fourth goal to more accurately reflect City’s dominance over Liverpool.
Among all of his contributions, the lung-bursting sprint to pursue Salah and stop him as the Egyptian sped past with the chance to set up Jota was crucial. He began playing in Alavarez shortly after, and the City had reached parity.
Grealish has adapted well to his position at Manchester City, and it is clear that his manager believes in him because he gave him a bear hug as he left the field.
Even without Haaland, City were brilliant and illustrated the gap that has grown between them and Liverpool, who have been the only team to seriously challenge them for the title in recent years.
Stones put on a stylish display, spending time breaking up attacks and sprinkling passes around in midfield to demonstrate what a naturally gifted footballer he is. This demonstrated the depth of Guardiola’s team and served as a stark warning to Arsenal that they will not relinquish their title without a fight.
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In recent title races, Liverpool has been Manchester City’s shadow, but they are now just a pale imitation of the team that chased the historic quadruple last year.
