Manchester City fought back to claim a 1-1 draw against Premier League champions Liverpool at the Etihad on Sunday.
Liverpool bossed the early exchange and got rewarded when Salah converted a 13th minute penalty after Kyle Walker fouled Sadio Mane.
In the 25th minute Georginio Wijnaldum was dispossessed in midfield by Kevin De Bruyne and found Raheem Sterling at the back post who couldn’t put the ball past Alisson.
City got back into the game on 37 minutes through Jesus who made a brilliant first touch to beat Trent Alexander-Arnold before poking the ball beyond Alisson
With three minutes left in the first half City were awarded a penalty, after the referee Craig Pawson consulted VAR following handball against Joe Gomez but De Bruyne put his effort wide.
In the 49th minute City broke on the counter but De Bruyne’s dangerous low cross was well saved by Alisson.
Liverpool went at the other end and almost went ahead through Diogo Jota only for his low strike being stopped by Ederson.
Jesus had a big chance to put City 2-1 up on 55 minutes following a delightful cross from Cancelo only to see his header miss the target with Alisson to beat.
Both managers made changes to try and win the game with Liverpool throwing in James Milner, Xherdan Shakiri while Bernado Silva came in for City.
As the game wore on both teams couldn’t find any clear-cut opportunities to take all three points.
The draw means Liverpool are third on 17 points while City are 11th on 12 points in the league table.
1 Comment
“It would be a shame to leave Firmino on the bench though. He may not score much, but his link up play with Salah and Mane is so valuable to the team.
A possible solution is for Klopp to play Jota and Firmino in the attack together. With Mane and Salah on the flanks. Then instead of his trademark 3 midfielders, go with 2, holding strongly in front of the back four, with the full backs bombing forward in the usual Liverpool style”
I made this comment 5 days ago. Perhaps Klopp reads CSN, lol!
Looks like this is the new preferred formation for Klopp. They are definitely more dangerous offensively with this formation.