Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool
Tonight Manchester City, the 2019 Premier League champions, gave a guard of honour to Liverpool, the 2020 kings, and then gave them a thrashing!
Of all the top flight matches played this week, this game, Premier League: Manchester City vs Liverpool, was probably the only one with nothing riding on it. Nothing, that is, apart from pride. Pep Guardiola’s deposed champions had a point to prove, and the Manchester City vs Liverpool betting odds here at SBOBET backed the Sky Blues to win.
And win they did in some style. A penalty, converted by man-of-the-match Kevin de Bruyne, put the hosts ahead on 25 minutes and by half time they were 3-0 up and out of sight.
Of course, the Sky Blues handed Liverpool the title when they lost to Chelsea and they wanted to show the Reds that they won’t make it so easy next season.
Highlights of the game
In the early exchanges, Gabriel Jesus stroked the ball into the net with just two minutes on the clock but was flagged offside, and he strayed again when Kevin de Bruyne put him through on 18 minutes. City’s defence too was playing a high line but Liverpool managed to spring it and when Mo Salah cut inside and hit a low shot which beat Ederson but cannoned back off the post.
City’s breakthrough came on 25 minutes and it was a smart piece of play from Raheem Sterling which created the chance. He rolled Joe Gomez in the penalty area and with the defender’s arm around his waist he tumbled to the ground to give the referee no option but to point to the spot.
The Sky Blues have missed a fair few penalties this season but with the responsibility now on Kevin de Bruyne’s shoulders the outcome was more certain and he stroked his spot-kick into the left corner of the net, sending Alisson the wrong way. That was the Belgian’s 11th goal of another impressive season in which he’s also made 16 assists.
Ten minutes later City doubled their lead, and the way they cut through Liverpool’s defence was incisive. De Bruyne passed to Jesus who found Phil Foden just outside the box, and he slid the ball through to Sterling who did the rest, beating Gomez again and sliding the ball inside the left-hand post.
And then after another ten minutes it was 3-0, and this time it was Foden teasing the Liverpool defence as he played a one-two with Jesus, leaving the usually excellent Andy Robertson floundering before the lifted the ball over Alisson and into the net.
Foden almost made it four, minutes into the second half, after De Bruyne put him in on goal but Virgil van Dijk made a goal-line clearance. But City were relentless and scored the fourth midway through the second half. It was De Bruyne again launching the attack with a precision ball to Sterling, and while his shot was heading wide it was diverted into his own net by a stretching Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Few, if any, Liverpool fans will be watching the Manchester City vs Liverpool highlights tonight, and I don’t blame them.
The title is theirs… and anyone can have a night off!
Key statistics
This was a night for Liverpool to forget as they failed to score for the fifth consecutive away game, the last time they went on such a drought was 1992, just two years after the Reds last won the title!
And before tonight the Reds had only conceded two away goals before half time all season, and they beat that total in one go.
It was a big game for the Pep Guardiola. The City manager was taking charge of his 400th league game in an illustrious career at three of Europe’s top teams. And tonight’s opponent has beaten him more than any other manager he’s faced. Jurgen Klopp has come out on top against Pep nine times but had no answer this evening.
What’s next?
Manchester City still have the FA Cup and Champions League to look forward to. The Sky Blues are in the semi-final of England’s domestic showpiece and have one foot in the last eight of the Champions League, having beaten Real Madrid in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash.
Before that, the Sky Blues face two mid-table sides over the next seven days, away to Southampton and then at home to Newcastle.
Meanwhile, the 2020 Premier League champions are set to challenge two teams in the relegation mix, firstly Aston Villa make the trip to Anfield on Sunday before the Reds head to the south coast next Wednesday to take on Brighton.
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