Man City 3-0 Liverpool – Doku shines as City sweep past champions

Manchester City were back to their sparkling best as they swept aside a disappointing Liverpool in rainy Manchester.

Erling Haaland saw an early penalty saved but it mattered little as City were sharper and slicker all over the field than the Premier League champions.

Haaland sailed in a header to open the scoring and Virgil van Dijk then had a leveller ruled out for offside.

There was a touch of fortune about City’s second as Nico Gonzalez’s long-range strike deflected in off Van Dijk.

But there was nothing lucky about Jeremy Doku’s brilliant thrid, the Belgian whipping a beauty into the top corner from 25 yards.

Liverpool are the first reigning Premier League champions to concede as many as 17 goals in their first 11 games since Liverpool in 2020-21 (17).

Victory in Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game as manager saw City go second, four points behind Arsenal, while Liverpool are eighth.

Arne Slot’s side had emerged from a recent slump with impressive back-to-back wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid, but the defeat was their fifth in six league games and left them eight points adrift of the Gunners.

Doku was the main player in the game’s major talking point after nine minutes when he burst past two defenders and went down following a challenge by Giorgi Mamardashvili.

No penalty was given initially and replays suggested contact was minimal, but referee Chris Kavanagh reversed his decision after being summoned to the VAR screen.

Liverpool may have felt justice was served as Mamardashvili pushed away Haaland’s spot-kick, but the reprieve did not last long.

Haaland leapt above a static Ibrahima Konate and headed firmly past Mamardashvili who, unlike for the spot-kick, was rooted to the spot.

After Gonzalez’s deflected shot Doku put the game beyond doubt just after the hour when he took a pass from Nico O’Reilly and curled in a stunning first league goal since January.

Liverpool could not even manage a consolation with a Dominic Szoboszlai shot saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma and Mohamed Salah poking wide.