Manchester City moved up to second with an incident-packed 3-0 demolition of Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
Erling Haaland shrugged off having an early penalty saved by Giorgi Mamardashvili to head City in front for his 99th Premier League goal. With Jeremy Doku tormenting the Liverpool defence for long periods, Slot’s side proved unable to match that energy.
Slot could point to a Virgil van Dijk equaliser that was controversially ruled out because Andrew Robertson had been in an offside position at the time, but Nico Gonzalez’s deflected effort in first-half stoppage time better reflected City’s dominance.
In Pep Guardiola’s 1,000th game as a manager, Doku’s sensational strike ended any ambitions of a Liverpool comeback, the Belgian winger having been the outstanding player even prior to his goal. His livewire display was in stark contrast to the opposition.
The three points move City above Chelsea and into second spot in the table, now only four points behind leaders Arsenal following their draw at Sunderland. On this evidence, it is City, not the reigning champions, who are the Gunners’ biggest challengers.
Doku shows it is not just Haaland
One amusing statistic coming into this contest was that Manchester City’s second-highest goalscorer in the Premier League this season was Burnley’s Maxime Esteve as a result of his unfortunate two own goals in a 5-1 win for City back in late September.
That stat remains intact because the goals by Nico and Doku were their first in the competition this season but City’s all-round performance – and that of Doku, in particular – was a reminder that there is more to them than Haaland.
It was the livewire winger who was the catalyst for so much of what was good about Guardiola’s side in this showdown with their long-time rivals. Whether finding a yard of space when Liverpool were in a low block or racing into space, he was unstoppable.
City have picked up the most points of any Premier League team since April and that is something that will not be lost on Mikel Arteta and Arsenal as they feel Guardiola’s side on their shoulders now. Reports of their demise may have been greatly exaggerated.
Liverpool’s revival unravels at City
This was a chastening experience for a Liverpool side that might have believed they were getting back to their best following wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid. They were utterly unable to match Manchester City’s energy, overwhelmed from the outset here.
Given that Slot has spoken of the challenge of managing multiple games each week being an issue for some of his players, perhaps it is surprising that he opted to stick with the same starting line-up rather than freshen things up. Will he regret that call now?
Florian Wirtz continues to look neat and tidy without impacting games in the way one might expect of a player with that price tag, while Hugo Ekitike was quiet and Mohamed Salah’s struggle for form goes on. That sluggishness at the back was evident again.
A couple of debatable decisions did go against Liverpool but this was no odd-goal defeat like their previous four in the Premier League. It was emphatic. A seventh reverse in 10 games in all competitions to leave the reigning champions down in eighth.
Slot bemoans disallowed goal
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Arne Slot was critical of the officials’ decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk’s first-half goal
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot speaking to Sky Sports:
“I think it’s obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made, at least in my opinion. Because he [Robertson] didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do.
“Immediately after the game someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed City against Wolves last season [John Stones’ last-minute winner]. So it took the linesman 13 seconds to raise his flag to say it’s offside. So there was clearly communication.
Bernardo Silva leans into Jose Sa before John Stones’ winner at Molineux last season
“That could have influenced the game in a positive way for us because in the first half we were so poor.
“We would have been lucky going 1-0 down at half-time, let alone if it was 1-1 or 2-1 down. So it has been an influential decision, which is not to say that we then would have had a result over here because you cannot predict how the second half would have gone.”
