Manchester City won’t have any issues if Erling Haaland is absent.
On Saturday, Pep Guardiola’s team rallied from behind to thrash Liverpool 4-1 and remain in pursuit of league-leading Arsenal despite playing without the Premier League’s top scorer.
Haaland, who has 42 goals in all competitions this season, was unable to play in the match at Etihad Stadium due to a groyne ailment.
But after trailing to a goal from Mohamed Salah in the 20th minute, City came back with goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jack Grealish to keep the pressure on Arsenal and deal further setback to Liverpool’s ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League.
By the time the game was over, City had such a lopsided advantage that Jurgen Klopp claimed the outcome might have been much worse for his club.
The Liverpool manager added, “We basically had to follow as they did whatever they wanted. “We were fortunate that they weren’t feeling greedy.”
A loss would have allowed Arsenal to increase its advantage at the top to 11 points, making it one of City’s toughest remaining tests in the league.
When Liverpool scored early on against the flow of play, Diogo Jota bursting past City’s high defensive line and laying off to Salah to sweep a shot into the corner, it appeared as though that scenario was actually possible.
But City evened the scoring in the 27th minute when World Cup champion Alvarez of Argentina converted Grealish’s cross.
Liverpool had no response to City’s offensive quality in the second half, with De Bruyne tapping home a cross from Riyad Mahrez less than a minute after the restart.
In the 54th minute, Gundogan scored a close-range third addition, and Grealish added a deserving goal in the 74th to complete the scoring.
It was Guardiola’s 100th home league victory with City in 128 games at Etihad Stadium, the fastest manager to do so, breaking Arsene Wenger’s previous mark of 139 games.
“Our performance against a team, our great competitor in the previous seasons, was practically faultless from the first minute to minute 93, “said Guardiola.
With the victory, City closed the gap on Arsenal to five points before the Londoners’ match against Leeds later that day.
Liverpool has not triumphed in a league game at Etihad Stadium since 2015 and is currently seven points behind fourth-place Tottenham.
Since humiliating Manchester United 7-0 last month, Klopp’s team has now dropped three straight games.
“In the end, we had our moments, but it’s terrible how we lost everything, “added Klopp.
“Four-ish,” the Liverpool manager observed, of his players “had a passable performance, and the others were someplace else.
LEEDS 1, ARSENAL 4
Gabriel Jesus scored twice as Premier League-leading Arsenal defeated Leeds 4-1 on Saturday to maintain a lead over Leeds in the rankings. Gabriel Jesus had been without a goal for six months.
Jesus gave Arsenal the lead in the first half after converting a penalty kick for his first goal since October 1. In the 55th minute, he made it 3-0 with a straightforward close-range finish. The Brazilian striker had gone through 17 games for club and country without scoring, a run that was also broken up by a protracted period of rest after suffering an injury at the World Cup.
Just after the half, Ben White added the second goal, and Granit Xhaka added a late fourth goal to keep Arsenal eight points ahead of Manchester City, the reigning champion with a game remaining.
Leeds got a goal back with a deflected strike by Rasmus Kristensen to make it 3-1 in the 76th, but the setback puts the visitors just a point above the relegation zone.
Arsenal was under pressure to respond after City thrashed Liverpool 4-1 in the first game, but it almost conceded early on for the second time in its past three home league games. We almost got the ‘Bournemouth’ thing down pat.
Due to a minor illness, Bukayo Saka was benched for Arsenal for the first time in a league match since December 2021. As a result, the Gunners’ attack lacked fluidity for the first 30 minutes of the game, though Jesus wasted a great opportunity in the 11th minute by heading over the bar from six yards out. Instead, Ramsdale had to make saves since, just after the halfway point, he had to stop Crysencio Summerville and Jack Harrison in rapid succession.
Luke Ayling fouled Jesus in the penalty area, and the Brazilian converted the penalty kick by sending Illan Meslier the wrong way and placing his effort down the centre to give Arsenal the lead.
White was on there at the far post to direct in a low cross from Gabriel Martinelli in the 47th minute to double the lead, and it was all Arsenal in the second half.
Leandro Trossard then broke into the area and crossed the ball back for Jesus to score into an open goal after playing a clever interchange.
While Kristensen gave the visitors some hope when his effort deflected off Oleksandr Zinchenko and caught Ramsdale off guard, Arsenal answered with a rare headed goal from Xhaka, as the Switzerland midfielder met a cross from Martin Odegaard to seal the victory.
