Manchester City come from behind to beat Liverpool in a convincing 4-1 win and without lethal striker Erling Haaland; Depth in squad and tactical brilliance
Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola is not giving up the title charge just yet. This is evident from a convincing 4-1 home win over Liverpool. The Cityzens started with intent to get an early lead but Riyad Mahrez’s effort curled slightly past the near post. Rodri came close as well but his effort was saved by Allison.
Having missed their chances early on, City were given a wake-up call after Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for Liverpool with the first shot on target. Diogo Jota with the assist, in the 17th minute. Ten minutes later and Pep Guardiola’s tactical brilliance showed fruit, through a Julian Alvarez goal. John Stones in midfield, allowing Kevin De Bryune and Gundogan to move further up the pitch and Grealish and Mahrez wreaking havoc on the flanks for Liverpool against Robertson and Trent Alexander Arnold.
The rest of the half was high-paced with end-to-end football. In just a minute after the break, Kevin De Bruyne gave the Cityzens the lead after a pin-point first-time cross from Riyad Mahrez.
Gundogan extended the lead in the 53rd minute tapping in after Julian Alvarez’s shot was blocked near the line by Trent Alexander-Arnold. The goal eased tensions at the Etihad. Klopp brought in four changes after the break but Manchester City sealed the win through Grealish in the 74th minute.
Speaking to BT Sports after the fixture, Guardiola said,
“When we conceded the goal, we were playing really well. Of course, they are always a threat in the transitions, but we played really well in all departments. It was one of our best performances in these seven years.
“The players knew were weren’t playing badly [when we went 1-0 down]. We adjusted our process a little bit at half-time. Of course we were lucky to score the second goal, but the game was so stable during 93 minutes.”
Manchester City are 8 points behind Arsenal with 64 points against The Gunners’ 72. City travel to bottom-placed Southampton on Saturday 8 April as Arsenal travel to Liverpool on Sunday 9 April.
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