The impact caused by the Belgian Jeremy Doku's arrival on the pitch a few minutes into the second half tilted the match in favor of Manchester City, who won at Anfield (0-3), extended their perfect run of victories and frustrated Liverpool, subdued once they were reduced to ten men, shortly before the goals, due to the second yellow shown to the Dutchman Rayan Gravenberch.
Everything turned against Liverpool midway through the second half. Andoni Iraola's side suffered its first defeat of the season, a victim of its inferiority, the upheaval caused by Doku, and its lack of cutting edge. It dominated for almost an hour, overwhelmed its rival, but only on a few occasions did it trouble Gianluigi Donnarumma. After that, it was clearly outplayed by City.
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Enzo Maresca's side barely showed the hostility with which it was received in this modern English classic. The "sky blue" club is singled out for the blame weighing on its history of 114 breaches of financial rules in the Premier League. And that is on the mind of every opposing fan every time the "citizens" play away from the Etihad.
No one gave anything away for many minutes. Liverpool relied on pressure, quick circulation, and intensity. And at times they pinned back their opponent, who had won everything they had played and who will face Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in the Champions League.
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Enzo Maresca, the fourth manager to win his first six Premier League matches, emerged stronger after containing the good play of Víctor Muñoz on the right and of Lewis Koumas, the main "red" threats.
The clash came alive at the end of the first half. Enzo Fernández tried to catch Alisson off guard from long range and then, at the start of the second half, Donnarumma appeared to save his team in a triple chance. First from a point-blank shot by Lewis Koumas, then from another by Ryan Gravenberch, and one more from Enzo Fernández.
The sending-off that set the course of the match
City subdued the "red" momentum from the restart after halftime until reaching the key moments following a missed chance by Erling Haaland, the clearest one. A cross-shot that went wide.
Right afterwards came the action that marked the match. With Jeremy Doku already on the pitch and City in a higher gear, Liverpool were reduced to a disadvantage by a second yellow card for Ryan Gravenberch, which meant his sending-off. Everything snowballed after that. Haaland's goal arrived, originating from an individual move by Doku down the left.
The Belgian, unstoppable, scored the second. It was a stunning goal. He collected the ball from Elliott Anderson and looked for space. He unleashed a thunderbolt that flew into the top corner of Alisson’s goal. Too harsh a punishment for the home side. Two goals down and a man short.
City rounded off the matchday with a third, in the 78th minute, when Rayan Cherki, another of the standout performers, showed up for the occasion. He received a pass from Josko Gvardiol, beat every defender and the goalkeeper, and scored with the goal at his mercy. City had thrown its own party, asserted its authority, and extended its dominance. They hold a three-point lead over Arsenal.
-- Technical sheet
0 - Liverpool: Alisson; Ronald Araújo (Jeremie Frimpong, 75th min), Jeremy Jacquet (Joe Gomez, 88th min), Virgil Van Dijk, Milos Kerkez; Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister; Bradley Barcola (Federico Chiesa, 88th min), Florian Wirtz (Trey Nyoni, 66th min), Víctor Muñoz; and Lewis Koumas (Rio Ngumoha, 75th min).
3 - Manchester City: Gianluigi Donnarumma; Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Marc Guehi, Nico O"Reilly (Jorsko Gvariol, 66th min.); Elliott Anderson, Enzo Fernandez (Ayyoub Bouaddi, 80th min.); Antoine Semenyo, Mathis Cherki, Ilman Ndiaye (Jeremy Doku, 56th min.); and Erling Haaland (Allan Elias, 80th min.).
Goals: 0-1, 65th minute: Erling Haaland; 0-2, 68th minute: Jeremy Doku; 0-3, 78th minute: Rayan Cherki.
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. He sent off Ryan Gravenberch for a second yellow card (min62) and showed yellow cards to Ronald Araújo and Virgil Van Dijk, of Liverpool, and Nico O"Reilly and Ayyoub Bouaddi, of Manchester City.
Incidents: matchday six Premier clash played at Anfield Stadium in Liverpool, in front of around 60,000 spectators.