Free match reporting and highlights from 5:15pm, when goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish secured a 4-1 victory for Man City over Liverpool. Pep Guardiola’s team came within five points of Arsenal at the end of regulation time.

Manchester City came from behind to dismantle Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium and keep the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s title challenge seemed to hang in the balance as Mohamed Salah gave the away team an early lead, but Julián Álvarez equalized before second-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish made it through. City will win.

The win cut the gap to Arsenal to five points by the time the final whistle was blown and offered a timely reminder that Guardiola’s side remain a potent force, even without top scorer Erling Haaland looking on and cheering on his teammates. from the stands. .

How Man City turned it around

Manchester City started brightly, controlling possession with John Stones alongside Rodri in midfield, but Liverpool’s threat on the counter-attack was obvious. Salah was relentless in exposing City’s defense with a fine finish after Diogo Jota jumped the offside trap.

Salah finished again soon after, but it turned out to be the crucial moment of the match. Grealish intercepted his cross and came back down the other end moments later, providing the equalizing assist for Álvarez, the culmination of some sumptuous play by City.

It was a great moment for the Argentine, taking responsibility for leading the line in Haaland’s absence, and it also felt like a great moment in the title race.

These two teams have been contesting that title so often in recent seasons, but Liverpool’s struggles didn’t take away from this one: duels between Grealish and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Manuel Akanji and Jordan Henderson, which added to the sense of chance.

Unfortunately for Liverpool, their form does not match that competitive spirit and the game soon got away from them in the second half. It took De Bruyne just 53 seconds to put City in front after Álvarez found Mahrez in space with a brilliant pass.

Álvarez was also involved in the third, his left-footed shot blocked near the line by Alexander-Arnold but only as far as Gundogan. The skipper had ample time to choose his spot and ease the tension around the Etihad Stadium. The city never relinquished control.

All that was left was for Grealish to score himself, past Alisson after receiving a pass from De Bruyne inside. The gap to Arsenal remains significant, but so is the quality of the reigning champions. Their hopes of a treble remain. Liverpool clings to sixth.

Álvarez impresses in the absence of Haaland

Manchester City had won their previous two Premier League games in which Haaland did not start, although the last time that happened was in November, and he came off the bench to score a late winner. This time he was emphatically not required.

That was due in large part to Álvarez’s impressive contribution. He scored one and was involved in City’s next two goals. His final was typical. The distribution of him in the build up to De Bruyne’s goal showed another element of the game from him, expertly playing on Mahrez.

There was a strange moment in the first half when the ball bounced around the box and one wondered if Haaland would have been there to convert. But the prevailing emotion at the end was that City could run more smoothly without him. Credit to Alvarez for that.

Man of the Match: Jack Grealish

“I was in the bathroom! I felt sick all morning, but now I feel fine!

“It was a brilliant performance,” Grealish said. Sport. “We knew it was going to be a difficult game against Liverpool. We wanted to start this final period of the season well. We responded brilliantly to the defense and were excellent in the second half.”

In truth, Grealish was excellent throughout, tormenting Alexander-Arnold and even making an important defensive contribution to his team. This might have been his best performance for City, certainly his best in what seemed like a very important game.

Could he help propel City to another Premier League title? “Arsenal are a great team,” he continued. “It’s in their hands right now. But we’re going to do everything we can to chase them down. We’ve got to keep winning games.”

Guardiola: perfect performance

“From minute one to minute 93, it was a perfect performance,” Guardiola said. Sport.

“When we conceded the goal, we were playing very well. Of course, they are always a threat in transition, but we played very well in all departments. It was one of our best performances in these seven years.”

“The players knew they weren’t playing badly (when we were down 1-0). We adjusted our process a bit at half time. Of course we were lucky to score the second goal, but the game was very stable for 93 minutes.”

Klopp: Luckily there were only four

“Everyone could see that the first half was good, not just the result,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference. “City had more possession, but that always happens when we play here and we scored a wonderful goal, we could have scored the second on a very good counter-attack.

“So I would say this situation was quite unfortunate, Kevin De Bruyne gets a touch, (the ball) rolls down Robbo’s legs and then 1-1. You come out of half time, one ball in midfield, not even a challenge , we’re too deep. If you’re too deep, too passive, they use that, then that’s 2-1.

“The super quick 3-1, after we have three or four one-on-ones and we don’t make a challenge and you saw what happened, we weren’t, nobody, too passive, too open, too deep, too far from anything.

“Four performances were good, the two midfielders worked a lot, Hendo and Fab, Cody and Ali, and that is very difficult. If you want to get something out here, 14 or 15 players have to be at their best level and that was not the case.

“We had a 3-2 situation when Robbo broke through but other than that City were able to do what they wanted because the gaps were too big so we were lucky they only scored one more.”

Liverpool’s problems in statistics

• Liverpool have lost eight Premier League away games this season – that’s the most in a single season since 2014-15 and as many as they have lost on the road in their previous three campaigns combined.
• Liverpool lost when they scored first in a Premier League game for the first time since February 2021. They had been unbeaten in 44 of those games before today, winning the last 22 in a row.
• Liverpool have conceded 30 Premier League goals against Man City under Jurgen Klopp, 11 more than against any other opponent.
• They had just four shots in this game, the fewest in a single Premier League game since September 2011.

Whats Next?

This was the start of an immensely busy April that will see manchester city compete in eight more matches in three competitions.

Next is a trip to southampton next saturday live sky sports starting at 5:30 p.m. Then their Champions League quarter-final draws against Bayern Munich come to both sides of a home game with leicester citywhich is also live sky sports on April 15.

The FA Cup semi-final with sheffield united It comes four days before a potential title decider with Arsenalbefore a trip to fulham in front of sky sports cameras completes a busy week.

In the meantime, you can watch four of Liverpoolnext six games in sky sports – including their next two away games chelsea Tuesday night and against Arsenal within eight days. Trips to leeds and west hamas well as home games with tottenham and nottingham forest They are on Jurgen Klopp’s agenda.