Premier League Roundup: Phenomenal City unstoppable as Liverpool lose at Anfield again; Leicester draw against Wolves

Manchester City stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League with a 4-1 win over Premier League holders Liverpool in a heavyweight clash with significant ramifications for the title race.

Mo Salah had levelled for Liverpool in the 63rd-minute via a penalty as momentum shifted back onto the Reds after Ilkay Gundogan despite missing a first-half spot-kick managed to still put City ahead shortly after the interval.

However, a rare moment of loss of concentration got Allison in trouble as he made two unforced errors in the space of four minutes which in turn allowed Gundogan and Raheem Sterling to dramatically tilted the contest back in City’s favour.

Phil Foden then grabbed City’s fourth of the game to cap off an imperious display as Pep Guardiola’s side humbled their hosts.

City have now opened a 10 points lead between them and Liverpool on the Premier League standings and five clear of Manchester United, with a game in hand on both sides, while Liverpool has now lost three league games in a row at home for the first time since 1963.

Watch the highlights of the match below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_6iRCcfYu8

Managers reactions…

Jurgen Klopp: “The performance was good most of the time. Really, really good, on a high level. If we’d played more often like tonight, we would not be 10 points behind City. The goals, we made massive mistakes. Against each team it is a problem, against City it’s a killer. And that’s why we lost the game.

“Ali has saved our life plenty of times, no doubt about that… he made two mistakes and that’s how it is. I don’t know, it’s not a real explanation for it but maybe he had cold feet or something. It sounds funny but could be. But there’s still the opportunity to kick it in the stands.

“[Champions League places,] that is of course our main target, that is clear. We will try everything. There is enough games to play to secure that – but we have to win games.”

Pep Guardiola: “We started really well, especially with a lot of passes. We cannot play like they play, transitions. We have to play with a slower rhythm with more passes than usual because they are the best team in the world on transitions alongside Manchester United but they have more years doing this.

“In the first half, we could not control the width of Robertson and Alexander-Arnold. In the second half, we adjusted a little bit our setup. After, the quality of the players did the rest.”

Stats and facts from the match (Backed by Opta)

• Manchester City have now equalled the all-time winning run by an English top-flight side across all competitions, winning each of their last 14 matches – the same number as Preston (ending in 1892) and Arsenal (ending in 1987).
• Liverpool are the first side to lose three straight home league matches in the following campaign after winning the English top-flight since Chelsea did so almost 65 years ago, back in March 1956.
• After 23 games this season, Liverpool (40) now have 27 fewer points than they did at the same stage last season (67), the biggest drop by any reigning champion at this stage of a campaign in English top-flight history.
• Man City’s Raheem Sterling is only the third player to score 100+ goals in all competitions under Pep Guardiola in his top-flight managerial career, after Lionel Messi (211) and Sergio Aguero (120).
• Of all players to score at least 10 goals across all competitions within the top five European leagues this season, only Erling Haaland (20y 201d) is at a younger age than Manchester City’s Phil Foden (20y 255d).
• lkay Gündogan is now Manchester City’s joint-top scorer across all competitions this season (11, also Sterling), while Bruno Fernandes (18) is the only midfielder who has netted more among Premier League players in all competitions this term.

Wolves 0-0 Leicester: Wolves stubborn defence holds of Brendan Rodgers side

High flying Leicester City missed the opportunity to go level on points with Manchester United who sits second on the log as they drew 0-0 at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Wolves started brightly, with Ruben Neves firing over on 11 minutes before Adama Traore, who caused problems with his pace and skill throughout, had a shot deflected wide by James Justin.

Leicester, however, finished the first half on the front foot.

Two players who were brought on had great chances to earn a victory for either side but it would not be.

Firstly, Kasper Schmeichel denied Wolves’ Fabio Silva from a close range while Jamie Vardy also came off the bench on his return from injury and headed wide in stoppage time.

Leicester remains in third place on 43 points, two behind Man Utd, while Wolves stay in 14th with 27 points.