Manchester City Beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield to Make It Six Wins From Six

Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield to make it six wins from six in English football and stay top of the table. For an hour the match was a proper battle, goalless at the break and marked by eighteen fouls, before a few minutes in the second half changed everything and City pulled clear in the closing stages.

City had needed a brilliant double save from Donnarumma early in the second half just to stay level. Then, in the sixty-second minute, Ryan Gravenberch picked up a second yellow card for a late challenge on Jeremy Doku, and Liverpool were reduced to ten men. Two goals followed in three minutes, as Haaland struck in the sixty-fifth minute and Doku curled in a second in the sixty-eighth minute.

Haaland’s goal made it six straight games with a goal for him. Rayan Cherki added the third with twelve minutes to play, after a move involving every City player, to complete the 3-0 win. It could have been more, and the last half hour was a masterclass in making the extra man count, as City took full control once Liverpool had lost a player and the goals arrived in quick succession.

The numbers behind the result are remarkable. It was City’s first back-to-back league wins at Anfield in seventy-three years, and Enzo Maresca has now won his first six league games in charge. Liverpool, by contrast, are down in ninth after their first defeat under Andoni Iraola. Six wins from six leaves City top of the table in October, in what was described as some statement of intent, even allowing for how early in the season it still is.

The match was played in a hostile atmosphere from the first whistle. Liverpool fans unveiled a banner criticising City, days after an independent commission found the club guilty of serious financial breaches. City deny any wrongdoing and have appealed, but that shadow hung over the whole afternoon. On the pitch, though, City were ruthless, and once the opening came after the sending-off, they finished the game with three goals and no reply.

From the October 12 episode of The Football Briefing Room.