Man City vs Liverpool LIVE: Premier League result and reaction as Trent Alexander-Arnold nets late equaliser
Man City 1-1 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp’s men remain one point behind the champions after salvaging a draw at the Etihad Stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Trent Alexander-Arnold’s low finish ten minutes from time earned Liverpool a point against Manchester City as the Premier League‘s top two played out a 1-1 draw.
A relatively even contest never quite burst into life at the Etihad Stadium as two familiar foes kept each other largey in check.
Erling Haaland had put Manchester City into a first half lead, latching on to a through ball from Nathan Ake after an errant clearance from Alisson before firing into the bottom corner past the Brazilian goalkeeper.
It was the Norwegian’s 50th Premier League goal, the striker achieving the mark in his 48th game to comfortably break Andy Cole’s record.
And Haaland very nearly added a second a matter of moments before Alexander-Arnold equalised up the other end, Alisson’s block crucial and sparking the counter attack from which the right back neatly tucked home.
The draw ends a 23-match winning run at home for Manchester City, who could be overhauled at the top of the table if Arsenal beat Brentford later on Saturday.
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Pragmatism hands Liverpool route to challenge Man City - both for one game and for 38
The longer a run goes, Jurgen Klopp had said, the more likely it would end. And if it appeared like wishful thinking when he delivered the thought, a day earlier, events – and Trent Alexander-Arnold – made the Liverpool manager sound prophetic 24 hours later. Manchester City had won every game at the Etihad Stadium in 2023, every match since a rather less celebrated manager, Frank Lampard, earned a 1-1 draw with a rather less talented Everton team.
Almost 11 months later, Klopp and Liverpool secured the same result, halting City’s winning run on their own turf at 23 matches – one short of the English record set by Sunderland in the 1890s – and keeping the gap between these two teams at one point.
Pragmatism shows Liverpool can challenge Man City - both for one game and 38
Man City 1-1 Liverpool: Spoils shared after Alexander-Arnold cancels out Haaland’s opener
Next up...
Liverpool take on LASK in the Europa League on Thurday night before Fulham visit Anfield on Sunday. That 2pm GMT kick off comes a couple of hours before Manchester City take on Tottenham in another vital fixture at the top end of the Premier League. RB Leipzig are the midweek opponents for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Micah Richards labels Man City’s performance ‘very disappointing’ after draw with Liverpool
Micah Richards labelled Manchester City’s performance against Liverpool “very disappointing” after the Premier League champions let a one goal lead slip at the Etihad Stadium and had to settle of a share of the points in Saturday’s early kick offs.
City started the match on the front foot with Nathan Ake bringing a scuffed clearance from Alisson under control before driving past Trent Alexander-Arnold and slipping a fine pass into the box for Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker brought up his 50th Premier League goal with a quick touch and spin before slotting the ball past Alisson.
The hosts had a second goal disallowed after Manuel Akanji was judged to have fouled Alisson before Ruben Dias tapped home from close range but City never fully took control of the game.
Micah Richards labels Man City’s performance versus Liverpool ‘very disappointing’
A second half strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold secured a point for Liverpool against Man City
Trent Alexander-Arnold’s impact against Manchester City wasn’t just the one you see in highlights
Perhaps this was another hint, another example, another reason why Trent Alexander-Arnold seems to both want to play further up and why, eventually, he must.
The early knockings of this fixture looked like it might be about who performed the switching six role better: the Liverpool man from right-back as usual, or Manchester City’s central defender Manuel Akanji, stepping forward to sit alongside Rodri. That rotation of position has become commonplace for both teams and continued here, albeit in different ways, and hinted that it might be a decisive factor early on.
But it wasn’t; not really, not for a vast majority of the game. Until it was, and Alexander-Arnold secured a 1-1 draw with his late, bottom corner strike.
Alexander-Arnold’s impact at Man City wasn’t just the one you see in highlights
Man City 1-1 Liverpool: The right-back’s late equaliser saved a point after Erling Haaland’s opener
Pep Guardiola vows to stay with Manchester City even if they drop into League One
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insists he would stay at the club even if they were relegated to League One should they be found guilty of breaking Premier League financial rules.
City’s fate has been brought back into focus following Everton’s 10-point deduction last week, but Guardiola insists the two cases are completely separate.
The Toffees were docked 10 points for breaching rules over a three-year period, while City are awaiting a ruling after being charged in February with more than 100 alleged breaches of the competition’s financial fair play regulations between 2009 and 2018. The club denies all the charges.
Asked whether there could be any severity of punishment which would make him consider his position, Guardiola replied: “It’s a good question. I will answer when I have the sentence.
“You are questioning like we have been punished. And in the moment we are innocent until guilt is proven. I know the people want it. I know, I feel it. I will wait.”
Pep Guardiola makes Man City vow — even if they are ‘relegated to League One’
City are awaiting a ruling after being charged in February with more than 100 alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial fair play rules
Banner flown over Etihad Stadium calling for release of activist in UAE
A banner calling on Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour and the club’s fans to help free a human rights activist was flown over the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
A plane carrying the banner ‘UAE: Free Ahmed Mansoor’ circled over the ground early on in the Premier League fixture between City and Liverpool.
Human rights campaign group Amnesty International organised the flyover and is calling on the United Arab Emirates authorities to act. Sheikh Mansour is the country’s deputy prime minister.
Banner calling for release of activist in UAE flown over Etihad Stadium
The plane circled the stadium in the early stages of City’s Premier League match against Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp seems happy enough with a point
“It is a really good moment, to be honest,” Klopp begins on Sky. “It’s a tough place to come. It’s a place where you have to be ready to suffer. I think if we would have played really well today, we would have won; we didn’t, we played ok. Their good moments we felt more, so we had to push ourselves again and go out and give it a proper try, adapted slightly. Unfortunately we’ve lost Diogo now, with a muscle, and maybe Alisson as well. We’ll have to see.
“I told the boys at half-time we could be much better. We had to settle a little bit. Putting Trent [Alexander-Arnold] in a different position defensively plus Dom[inik Szoboszlai] and Mo[hamed Salah] closing that gap better in the second half gave us much more stability, and from there we could play football ourselves. I have nothing to complain about.
“Trent made a difference today, not just because he scored, but in a lot of other moments as well. He had a good game.”
Everton fans fly plane over Etihad Stadium protesting the Premier League
A bit of news from the skies above the Etihad Stadium - Everton fans paid for a plane to fly over Manchester during the marquee fixture of the weekend in an apparent protest against the points deduction levied by the Premier League last week. Michael Jones has the full story:
Everton fans fly plane over Etihad Stadium protesting the Premier League
The Toffees had a ten-point penalty placed on them which leaves them in the relegation zone
Trent Alexander-Arnold reacts to Liverpool’s point
“It’s definitely a result that is better than what we got here last year,” Alexander-Arnold tells Sky Sports. “We haven’t had too many good results here in general, to be honest - we’ll take the point. It wasn’t an amazing performance from us at all. We had our chances to win the game.
“I don’t think we played particularly well, first half especially. The way they set up really challenged us - it’s difficult to play against. I thought we came out in the second half with a bit more of a gameplan to press them. Subsconciously, when you play Manchester City you’ve got a lot of respect for them, so you stand off them a bit. In the second half, we put that respect to the side.
“The way they broke us down was around the sides, and likewise us. It wasn’t really a game for penetrating through the middle. They have a lot of bodies in there.
“There was potentially a gameplan to stop me getting the ball in midfield - that’s what it felt like in the first half, a bit of man-marking. I think Bernardo Silva was very close to me a lot when I was pulling inside. I could be completely wrong, but I’m pretty sure that was the gameplan. I think I adapted to it.
“I got the ball from Mo and thought, ‘hit the target’. Obviously it was a good finish into the bottom corner and one that we needed. There have been many times where we’ve played a lot better against Manchester City and lost - to get the point is a good result. We’ve dug in deep today and got that point.”
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