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Liverpool beats Manchester City in wild clash as Klopp sees red

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Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock late to snatch Liverpool's first league win over Manchester City since 2019 and hand the defending champions their first loss of the campaign.

LIVERPOOL -- This is the moment Liverpool’s season finally started.

[ MORE: Klopp explains why he ‘snapped’ ]

In front of a raucous Anfield, Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 as Mohamed Salah sent the home fans into euphoria as the noise levels went off the scale.

In a tight, tense game (on and off the pitch), Jurgen Klopp’s injury-hit and underperforming side dug deep and Salah’s second half goal was enough to grab a statement win.

[ MORE: Player ratings out of 10 ]

Pep Guardiola and City have lost their unbeaten record and the reigning champs are now four points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal, and were left fuming as they believed Phil Foden had given them the lead in the second half but VAR ruled it out.

WATCH FULL MATCH REPLAY

Liverpool have 13 points from 10 games, while Man City have 23 from 10 and failed to score in a Premier League game for the first time this season.

[ MORE: How to watch Premier League in USA ]


What we learned from Liverpool vs Manchester City

Haaland is playable: Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez gave everyone in the Premier League hope. You can play against Erling Haaland. After a poor start to the season, many expected Van Dijk to be run around by Haaland. That wasn’t the case. At all. Haaland still had a few looks on goal but he got his headers wrong, was denied by Alisson and couldn’t get free of the Dutch center back and Gomez who doubled up masterfully on him. This was a crucial battle in the game and Van Dijk and Gomez won it for Liverpool.

Passionate Klopp gets personnel spot on: He deserved to get sent off for confronting the linesman and Klopp will admit it. He got that wrong. He got everything else right. From playing Milner at right back and Jota, Elliott, Firmino and Salah up top in a fluid four with Fabinho, Thiago in midfield to get on the ball and try to calm things down, his plan worked a treat and this result will breath new life into Liverpool’s season. Klopp will now face a period in the stands but his team have shown they have not yet been sidelined in this title race. Not yet.

Guardiola overthinks it again: He played a 3-1-3-3 formation at times and had Silva playing deeper and Gundogan further forward. City dominated large swathes of this game but it didn’t really work. They didn’t carve Liverpool open and they were far too predictable, which is very rare for them but can happen when Guardiola overthinks things against an opponent sitting deep and ready to counter. In the end one mistake from Cancelo cost them and a draw was a fair result, but City overcomplicated things in a big game and paid the price. It wasn’t the first time Guardiola has done that.


Tactical focus

Pep Guardiola went with a strange lineup tweak as Bernardo Silva started in a much deeper role with Gundogan playing much further forward. City did have a lot of the ball but it seemed to stop them getting in-behind Liverpool as many of their best attacking weapons were playing too deep. Liverpool’s 4-2-3-1 formation worked well with Salah buzzing around centrally and the hosts look to get him Jota and Elliott in-behind on the counter whenever they could.

Liverpool vs Manchester City

[ VIDEO: Premier League highlights ]


Stars of the show

Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk: Had a great game alongside one another to keep Haaland fairly quiet.

Mohamed Salah: Played in a more central role and got the all-important goal. Was denied by Ederson when going clean through and curled another just wide. Back to his best and he loves playing against City.

Diogo Jota: So sad to see him get what looked like a bad injury late on. He caused so many problems for City on the counter and linked up well with Firmino and Salah.

Phil Foden: Made City tick and so good on the ball. He and Bernardo Silva were on a different level. Shame his goal was disallowed.


What’s next?

Liverpool host West Ham on Wednesday, Oct. 19, while Man City head are off as their trip to Arsenal was postponed due to the Gunners’ Europa League commitments.


How to watch Liverpool vs Manchester City live, stream link and start time

Kick off: 11:30am ET, SundayTV Channel: USA NetworkOnline: Stream via NBCSports.com


Liverpool vs Manchester City live analysis! - By Joe Prince-Wright at Anfield

Wrapping things up from Anfield after a wild game (and especially second half!), I spoke with Klopp about his red card. He tried to explain himself.

Pep Guardiola isn’t happy with the decision to disallow Man City’s goal. At all. He says the officials stated that they would let everything go and they did. Except for the goal.

FULL TIME: Wild celebrations here at the final whistle as Liverpool win 1-0. Klopp is back out and his celebrations are pretty muted after his red card. That’s understandable.

Diogo Jota is carried off the pitch with an injury that looks really bad.

Six minutes of stoppage time. Can Liverpool hold on!?

Jurgen Klopp is SENT OFF!

Brilliant clearance from Van Dijk with Haaland about to head home. Man City throwing everything at Liverpool now.

Anfield is absolutely bouncing!

GOALLLL! Liverpool ahead! Alisson’s long kick forward finds Salah after Joao Cancelo couldn’t clear and Salah finished superbly. Anfield erupts. 1-0 to Liverpool! This feels like a HUGE moment in the season for Liverpool.

Salah curls one just wide at one end, while Haaland is denied by Alisson at the other. This is getting very tense now.

CHAOSSSS! First, Foden thought he had put City 1-0 up but referee Anthony Taylor went to the monitor after VAR told him to check a foul by Erling Haaland on Fabinho... THEN Liverpool break and Jota his the post when he should score.... THEN Pep Guardiola gets into it with the Liverpool fans around the City bench and goads them.... THEN it looks like a few things are thrown towards Pep and his staff. This is wild. How is it still 0-0!?

What a start to the second half!

HALF TIME: Liverpool 0-0 Manchester City - That was a very good watch. The 45 minutes flew by. Chances at both ends. Haaland had a couple of opportunities towards the end of the half but Liverpool were solid enough and looked a threat on the break. So far, so good for Jurgen Klopp’s side.

CHANCE! Kevin de Bruyne clips in a lovely cross for Erling Haaland but his header is straight at Alisson. He had to generate his own power on that but still, he will think he should have scored.

The game has opened up now. Elliott almost got in at one end and then Foden was played in but dallied on the ball when he should have got his shot off. Haaland has header over. Bubbling up nicely here...

OVER! Good ball in from Milner which Ederson pushes away with Jota lurking, then Robertson drills the rebound just over. Positive vibes here at Anfield as the home fans roar in appreciation. Robertson is angry with himself. He should have hit the target there.

This is a really weird formation from Manchester City. Looks like they are playing a 3-1-3-3 at times. Gundogan playing really high and Bernardo Silva much deeper than usual.

CHANCE! First big chance of the game and Diogo Jota heads at goal but it’s straight at Ederson.

Liverpool have started well and are trying to pin Manchester City back. This game has yet to get going.

KICK OFF: What an atmosphere here. We are off and running here at Anfield. Milner at right back for Liverpool with Fabinho, Elliott and Thiago in central midfield. Gundogan is playing in a very advanced role just underneath Haaland.

It is louddddd here today.

Team news is out and it looks like Fabinho could be at center back or James Milner at right back as Liverpool try to cope with their defensive injury issues. Cancelo looks like he’s playing at right back with Akanji and Dias at center back, plus Gundogan back in midfield.

Hello and welcome to a lovely early fall day here at Anfield!


Key storylines

Liverpool will be buoyed by their hammering of Rangers but Klopp’s side are giving up big chances galore in each game they play and the balance is totally off. Especially in midfield and defense. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson look well off the pace, while Mohamed Salah hasn’t scored in his last five PL games. Klopp will hope Salah’s incredible six-minute hat trick (a Champions League record) at Rangers will get his season going. With injuries piling up and the formation being switched around, this is going to be a very tough ask for a Liverpool side seemingly questioning their tactics, ability and cohesion all at the same time.

Man City look pretty unstoppable right now as Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden and Haaland lead the way. All across the pitch they have wonderful squad depth and Guardiola is rotating his team expertly. After this game at Anfield they will expect to win pretty much all of their remaining PL encounters before the World Cup break and that should move them back to the top of the table. City are five games unbeaten against Liverpool and are unbeaten in their last 22 PL away matches and haven’t lost in the league in almost eight months. A true juggernaut is chugging along nicely.


In-form players to keep an eye on

Liverpool’s Mo Salah will be flying after that incredible hat trick at Rangers but it is Roberto Firmino that City will have to watch out for. The Brazilian has become the forgotten man in Liverpool’s attack after the arrival of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez during the last two transfer windows. However, Firmino has scored eight goals in 12 games this season and has six goals in the PL. He only scored five PL goals all last season. Diogo Jota also assisted all three of Salah’s goals in midweek and is starting to look really sharp after injuries impacted his start to the season, while Nunez has scored two in his last two.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is on track to score 63 Premier League goals this season (the record in a 38-game campaign is 32) and he has 20 goals in 13 games in all competitions. Enough said. Kevin de Bruyne leads the Premier League in assists (nine) and scored home and away against Liverpool last season. At the other end Ederson has the most clean sheets (five) in the Premier League as Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji have both stepped in and looked very good in defense.


Liverpool team news, injuries, lineup options

Luis Diaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip remain out, while Arthur Melo is also missing. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Curtis Jones are also doubts as they continue to recover. The good news is that Andy Robertson is back at left back which is a huge boost. Klopp has been going for what is almost a 4-2-4 system in recent weeks but it looks like he may switch back to his 4-3-3 system for this one with Joe Gomez at right back, Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho in midfield and Salah, Firmino and Jota in attack.


Manchester City team news, injuries, lineup options

Kalvin Phillips, John Stones and Kyle Walker remain out for City, so that means Joao Cancelo is likely to start at right back with Nathan Ake potentially at left back and Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias at center back. In midfield Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva will surely start and it could be Grealish alongside Foden and Haaland in attack.



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