Manchester City temporarily closed the gap on leaders Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table to five points courtesy of a dominant 4-1 victory over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
Jurgen Klopp's side, who began the day seven points adrift of the Champions League places, drew first blood in the latest installment of what has traditionally been a title six-pointer in recent seasons.
However, Mohamed Salah's latest strike proved to be as good as it got for the visitors, who brushed off the absence of the injured Erling Braut Haaland to run out easy winners.
Julian Alvarez levelled things up before half time, and Pep Guardiola's men outclassed Liverpool in the second half, with Kevin De Bruyne setting the tone by giving the home side the lead just 53 seconds after the restart.
Further strikes from Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish then sealed a statement victory for the champions, who will now watch on to see whether leaders Arsenal can respond against Leeds United later in the day.
> Click here to read our full match report from the contest at the Etihad Stadium
HIGHLIGHTS
11th min: The first real sight of goal for either side falls to Rodri as he collects a Riyad Mahrez header in space on the edge of the box and gets a shot away, but it is fairly straightforward for Alisson Becker to deal with.
15th min: Man City win a free kick in a dangerous position and Mahrez whips a dangerous, curling strike just a yard or so wide of the top corner.
17th min: GOAL! MAN CITY 0-1 LIVERPOOL (MOHAMED SALAH)
Salah takes it to City!! 🙌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 1, 2023
Klopp's men lead at the Etihad thanks to their star man up top! ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/dxbp04OWEu
Against the run of play, Liverpool take the lead through Mohamed Salah! A Trent Alexander-Arnold pass forward suddenly sends Diogo Jota clean through on goal and, while Manuel Akanji gets back to him, the Liverpool forward does enough to hold him off and nudge the ball back into the path of an onrushing Salah.
From there, the Liverpool forward makes no mistake with a fine finish, and the linesman keeps his flag down. A VAR review follows, but Jota was onside when the ball was played, with Akanji slightly mistiming his step up.
22nd min: A chance for Man City to hit back quickly as the ball breaks to Mahrez on the edge of the area, but his first-time half volley flashes over the crossbar.
28th min: GOAL! MAN CITY 1-1 LIVERPOOL (JULIAN ALVAREZ)
No Haaland... no problem! 😜
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 1, 2023
Julian Alvarez bags his 13th goal of the season to bring City back level after 27 minutes! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/moks8iervg
Man City may not have Erling Braut Haaland, but they have a very able deputy in Julian Alvarez, who applies a Haaland-esque one-touch finish after getting himself in the right place at the right time to level things up.
It is a brilliant team move from the hosts, with Kevin De Bruyne, Mahrez, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish all involved before Alvarez applied the finish.
46th min: GOAL! MAN CITY 2-1 LIVERPOOL (KEVIN DE BRUYNE)
It is a dream start to the second half for Man City as they take the lead within one minute of the restart!
It is another sweeping move as Alvarez sends a raking pass out to Mahrez down the right, and the winger plays an inch-perfect pass into the middle which takes Alisson out of the game and leaves De Bruyne with a fairly simple finish in the end.
54th min: GOAL! MAN CITY 3-1 LIVERPOOL (ILKAY GUNDOGAN)
Man City have a third, and a second within 10 minutes of the start of the second half!
Alvarez is heavily involved in the buildup before eventually receiving the ball inside the box and trying to pick out the bottom corner. Alexander-Arnold makes a crucial block to prevent it nestling in the bottom corner, but the ball lands at the feet of Gundogan, who keeps his composure to fire home.
55th min: Liverpool threaten an immediate response as Cody Gakpo cuts back inside the box and goes for goal, but his effort deflects narrowly wide of the far post.
74th min: GOAL! MAN CITY 4-1 LIVERPOOL (JACK GREALISH)
Jack Grealish bags a well-deserved goal to give Man City a 4-1 lead!! 🙌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 1, 2023
He is in some serious form at the moment! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/56NUIqJnEX
Game well and truly over now as Man City add a fourth! Jack Grealish is the fourth different Man City name on the scoresheet as Liverpool once again fail to track their runners.
Grealish pokes the ball down the left channel for De Bruyne before bursting into the box for the return pass and finishing confidently when that pass inevitably arrives.
82nd min: Grealish almost adds a second to his personal tally as De Bruyne clips an inch-perfect lofted pass over to him, teeing him up for the volley. Grealish duly obliges and catches it well, but it is straight at Alisson.
MAN OF THE MATCH - JULIAN ALVAREZ
© Reuters
All of the pre-match talk surrounded the fitness of Erling Braut Haaland, and Liverpool fans will have been forgiven for feeling a little more optimistic when they saw his name missing from the teamsheet today.
However, Julian Alvarez proved again that he is more than capable of stepping up and, while he may not have the freakish numbers of Haaland, his presence up front arguably makes Man City an even more well-rounded team.
The World Cup winner played his part in each of Man City's first three goals, scoring the first, playing the defence-splitting pass for the second and almost single-handedly making the third possible through his workrate and constant movement in attack.
There were plenty of contenders in light blue for this award, and Grealish, De Bruyne and Mahrez would have all been worthy winners, but perhaps the biggest compliment you could pay to Alvarez today is that he put in the type of performance which may have made Virgil van Dijk and co wish they were facing Haaland instead.
STANDOUT MOMENT
© Reuters
The stats and final scoreline all ended up heavily weighted in Man City's favour, but the contest was an even one at the halfway stage, with both sides having gone toe to toe during an engrossing opening 45 minutes.
The turning point proved to be De Bruyne's goal just 53 seconds into the second half as Man City came flying out of the blocks, and Liverpool never recovered.
It was one of a few occasions when Man City ripped through the Liverpool defence in the second 45, and their third goal just seven minutes later seemed to kill any remaining belief in the visitors.
BEST STATS
4 - Mohamed Salah is the first Liverpool player to score in four different games against an opponent in a single campaign since Ian Rush did so in five meetings with Everton in 1986-87. Foe. pic.twitter.com/eVOCVERJpn
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
53 – Kevin De Bruyne's goal after 53 seconds is the earliest Liverpool have conceded in the second half of a Premier League game since Sylvain Distin netted after just 40 seconds for Everton in January 2011. Blow. pic.twitter.com/ncWr3R9X2d
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
100 - Man City gained their 100th Premier League home win under Pep Guardiola, in their 128th such match at the Etihad Stadium (D16 L12). It's the fastest a manager has reached 100 home wins in the competition, beating Arsène Wenger's previous record of 139 games. Century. pic.twitter.com/JeTKU58qIc
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
5 – Liverpool have lost five of their 10 Premier League matches in 2023, already more defeats than in the whole of 2022 (P35 W24 D7 L4). Downturn. pic.twitter.com/NFtFOnBZtU
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 1, 2023
MATCH STATS
Possession: Man City 69%-31% Liverpool
Shots: Man City 17-4 Liverpool
Shots on target: Man City 8-1 Liverpool
Corners: Man City 7-1 Liverpool
Fouls: Man City 9-12 Liverpool
LINEUPS
MAN CITY (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Stones, Akanji, Dias, Ake; Rodri (Bernardo 83'), Gundogan; Mahrez, De Bruyne, Grealish (Palmer 89'); Alvarez
LIVERPOOL (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson (Tsimikas 70'); Elliott (Oxlade-Chamberlain 70'), Fabinho, Henderson; Salah (Nunez 70'), Gakpo (Milner 82'), Jota (Firmino 70')
Barney Corkhill
