Manchester City 1 Liverpool 1. City’s home winning streak ends with a draw | OneFootball

Manchester City’s 23-game home winning streak has ended with a 1-all draw with Liverpool. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 80th-minute strike cancelled out Erling Haaland’s 27th-minute opener as the points were shared between the sides. The result see’s City drop to second in the Premier League table following Arsenal’s win over Brentford.

First half:

The game kicked off with neither side looking particularly dominant in the early stages. Each side had spells of possession in the first 10 minutes as the two rivals felt each other out.

City’s first chance of the afternoon fell to Phil Foden. A sloppy pass from Liverpool keeper Alisson was intercepted by the England international. He could only fire his shot straight at the Liverpool keeper with a tame effort.

Ederson was called into action 5 minutes later with his first save of the afternoon. Darwin Nunez saw a header saved by the City shot-stopper who reacted well to Liverpool’s best chance of the opening 20 minutes.

Manchester City would open the scoring in the 27th minute. Alisson attempted to play the ball quickly to Mo Salah following a City corner. Liverpool’s keeper scuffed his pass which was pounced upon by Nathan Ake. The Dutch defender skipped past a couple of Liverpool defenders to play a precise through ball to Erling Haaland. City’s number 9 fired the European champions into the lead. The goal was Haaland’s 50th in the Premier League. He became the quickest player to reach 50 goals in Premier League history reaching the milestone in 48 games. Haaland beat Andy Cole’s previous record of 65 games to reach the 50-goal mark.

Manchester City pressed for a second goal before half-time but saw a cross-cum-shot from Julian Alvarez sail wide. Phil Foden then had a shot saved by Alisson right on the stroke of halftime as City pressed for a second. City went into the interval up 1-nil after being the better team for most of the first half.

Second half:

The second half began with Liverpool showing more intent than the first half. Despite that, the first chance of note in the second half fell City’s way. The lively Jeremy Doku played a ball to Julian Alvarez who fired his shot high and wide.

City’s next chance fell to Erling Haaland in the 55th minute. But the Norwegian striker could only hit his follow over the target after a poor defensive header from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

In the 67th minute, Manchester City had a goal disallowed for a foul on Alisson by Manuel Akanji. The Liverpool keeper dropped a corner into the path of Ruben Dias who tapped in. The goal was disallowed by the referee and remained that way following consultation with VAR.

Moments later Ederson made a fantastic save from Darwin Nunez to preserve City’s lead. Liverpool began to press for an equaliser in the final 20 minutes.

Liverpool were rewarded in the 80th minute after a well-worked move teed up Trent Alexander-Arnold. The England international gave Ederson no chance as he rifled a low drive across the City keeper into the bottom corner. It set the game up for a massive final 10 minutes plus stoppage time.

Manchester City pressed for a winner but couldn’t find another clear-cut chance as their 23-game home winning streak came to an end with a draw.

Summary

It felt like two points dropped by Manchester City following the game. The treble winners were the better team on the day but some errant finishing cost City the chance to put the game to bed. Pep Guardiola was delighted with his side’s performance over the 90 minutes which on another day could’ve seen City take all three points.

For the home side there were several outstanding performances. Bernardo Silva was City’s best player in a dominant performance in midfield. Manuel Akanji was also brilliant playing in the role John Stones has made his own.

Attention now shifts for Manchester City to the UEFA Champions League. The European champions host RB Leipzig at the Etihad with a chance to seal top spot in Group G after having already qualified for the knockout stage.