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| Gundogan went from zero to hero |
After going nearly 4 years without a loss at their "Fortress" Anfield, Liverpool suffered a third consecutive loss at home. After Burnley and Brighton had popped the Anfield bubble, Manchester City burned down the Champions Fortress as they slammed them 4-1 to record their first win away at Liverpool since May 2003.
A barring run of results had dented Liverpool's hopes of a title Challenge as they slumped down to 4th,7 points behind Leaders Manchester City. In a week which saw all other title challengers drop points, City had a golden chance to not only inflict a loss at Liverpool but to open a 5 Point gap at the top with a game still in their hand.
After a tight opening 20 minutes, Liverpool had 2 good chances to open the scoring. A good cross from Alexander Arnold was headed just over the bar by Sadio Mane in the 25th minute. In the 29th minute, Roberto Firmino latched on to a loose ball through a half volley which was tipped over by Ederson.
The real big chance of the first half came in the 35th Penalty when former Liverpool player,Raheem Sterling was brought down in the box by a challenge from Fabinho. With no Kevin De Bruyne, the Penalty duty was given to City's inform man this season Ilkay Gundogan. Result? He blasted it over the bar. This was a third penalty missed by a Manchester City player against Liverpool after Riyad Mahrez in the 0-0 draw in 2018-19 and Kevin De Bruyne in that 1-1 draw in the reverse fixture this year. What's astonishing is that all three of those penalty completely missed the target.
After that major setback in the first half, Gundogan redeemed himself in the 49th minute when he smashed the ball in from close range after Phil Foden' shot was saved by Alisson.
In a game of such tight margins, an unlikely mistake by City's Centre Back Ruben Dias allowed Liverpool a chance to get back in the game when he gave away a penalty by bringing down Mohammed Salah. Unlike City, Liverpool actually scored their penalty as Salah thumped in the equaliser to make it 1-1 in the 63rd minute.
As we mentioned above about the tight margins, Liverpool keeper Alisson made 2 horrible mistakes in the space of 3 minutes to give the game to Manchester City. In the 73rd minute he tried to play out the ball from the back. After an initial mistake, he gave away the ball again 20 seconds later to Phil Foden, who made a great run in the box and laid it out to Gundogan to tapped in from close range to make it 2-1. Had he converted the penalty in the first half he would have had a Hattrick.
Three minutes later, Alisson committed another error. This time his back pass went straight to Bernando Silva who skillfully chipped the ball over his shoulder for Raheem Sterling to head it from close range to make it 3-1. This was his first goal for City against Liverpool at Anfield since moving in the year 2015.
The game was then sealed out by a wonderful strike from Phil Foden. A long cross whipped in by Substitute Gabriel Jesus was well controlled by him and then he cutted his way back and smashed in a hit from his favored left foot to make it 4-1 in the 83rd minute.
Manchester City are now 5 points ahead of second place Manchester United with a game in hand and are now 10 clear of Liverpool. Their Manager Jurgen Klopp has said after the match that finishing in Top 4 is Liverpool's priority this season. Next up for Liverpool is an away game at third place Leicester while City host Jose Mourinho's Spurs at the Etihad.
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