Liverpool’s Wataru Endo, centre left and Manchester City’s Erling Haaland vie for the ball, throughout the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Liverpool on the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, on November 25, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
Liverpool snapped Manchester City’s 23-match profitable run on the Etihad as a conflict between the Premier League’s prime two ended 1-1 on Saturday.
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s advantageous strike 10 minutes from time salvaged a degree for the guests after Erling Haaland’s fiftieth Premier League aim put City in entrance.
A share of the spoils means there stays only one level between the edges and that Arsenal can now take prime spot from City in the event that they win at Brentford afterward Saturday.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp made his displeasure clear on the early kick-off time on the again of a world break the place either side had gamers in World Cup qualifying motion in South America little over 72 hours in the past.
Fatigue appeared an element because the anticipated fireworks did not materialise.
“Preparing for the most difficult game of the season with one (training) session is really a challenge,” mentioned Klopp.
“We’re still in a process. If we’d played really well today, we could have won – we didn’t. We played ok.”
City boss Pep Guardiola lauded the style by which his facet restricted a free-scoring Liverpool to valuable few probabilities.
But the English champions lacked precision themselves within the closing third and had been made to pay for not constructing on their lead.
“I am really proud that after eight years we are still playing that way,” mentioned Guardiola. “We were really good in all departments and needed to be against an incredible team.
“Maybe we missed the last pass a little bit but they defended really well.”
Alisson escapes
Alisson Becker was let off the hook by Phil Foden’s weak shot after the Brazilian gifted away possession inside his personal field.
But the Liverpool goalkeeper was not so lucky when his subsequent sliced clearance picked out Nathan Ake.
The Dutch defender dribbled ahead earlier than choosing out Haaland, who discovered the far nook on 27 minutes.
Haaland’s fiftieth Premier League aim in his forty eighth look smashed the earlier file for the quickest half century held by Andy Cole in 65 matches.
At the opposite finish, Darwin Nunez was Liverpool’s greatest risk as Mohamed Salah did not construct on his spectacular file in opposition to City.
Ederson clawed away Nunez’s first-half header and turned a strong effort behind at his close to put up after the break.
But it was City who had seemed the extra possible so as to add to their lead within the second half as Liverpool struggled to comprise the velocity of Jeremy Doku on the counter-attack.
The Belgian winger teed up Julian Alvarez with an excellent probability that the Argentine spooned over.
Alisson was handed one other let-off 20 minutes from time when he spilled a nook beneath minimal stress from Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias tapped residence.
However, a VAR test didn’t overturn the referee’s on-field choice to award the Liverpool ‘keeper a soft free-kick.
Instead it was the Reds who hit back against the run of play when Salah laid the ball into Alexander-Arnold’s path for a incredible end into the underside nook.
City pushed for a winner and had been inches away when Haaland headed extensive in eight minutes of added time, however they had been thwarted as Guardiola’s males did not win at residence for the primary time since December 31 final yr.
Tensions then boiled over after full-time when Klopp needed to pull Nunez away from an altercation with Guardiola however each coaches performed down the importance of that incident.
Source: www.thehindu.com
