Liverpool and Manchester City drew 1-1 at Anfield to leave Arsenal in charge of the Premier League title race.
John Stones had put Man City on course to go top for the first time since November but Alexis Mac Allister's second-half penalty earned Liverpool a draw that means just ONE point separates the top three teams with only 10 matches remaining for each side.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +62 | 91 |
| 2 |
Arsenal
ARS
|
38 | +62 | 89 |
| 3 |
Liverpool
LIV
|
38 | +45 | 82 |
It was fitting that there was nothing to split Liverpool and Man City in what was Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola's "last dance" before Klopp departs at the end of the season.
How the match unfolded
Liverpool were dealt a blow before the match even kicked off, with Ibrahima Konate ruled out through injury and Mohamed Salah only fit enough to start on the bench alongside Andrew Robertson. With Alisson and Trent Alexander-Arnold also out, it meant Liverpool's back five was Caoimhin Kelleher, Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah and Virgil van Dijk.
Dominik Szoboszlai did provide a welcome boost, though, making his first Premier League start since January.
Man City made two changes from the team that won last week's Manchester derby, with Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez replacing Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku.
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Man City started on top and made their dominance count midway through the first half, when Stones scored from a clever Kevin De Bruyne corner.
De Bruyne whipped the ball to the near post, where Stones was left unmarked after Nathan Ake had blocked Mac Allister in a smart screen move.
It was De Bruyne's 13th goal involvement in 12 Man City appearances in 2024, the most of any Premier League player across all competitions so far this year.
Szoboszlai then headed Harvey Elliott's cross wide, and there was a mouthwatering moment just before the break as two of the Premier League's stars in their position went head-to-head. Haaland was set through in a 1v1 with Van Dijk, who held up the Man City striker and forced a weak shot that was straight at Kelleher.
Coming into the match, Liverpool had won 22 points from losing positions this season, the most of any team, and they showed their grit once again to equalise five minutes after the restart, although they needed a helping hand to do so.
Ake played an underhit backpass that Nunez reached before Ederson, who gave away a penalty, hacking down the Liverpool striker in his attempt to reach the ball first. Mac Allister converted the spot-kick.
To make matters worse, Ederson was injured in the act of conceding the penalty and shortly after was replaced by Stefan Ortega.
Roared on by a rampant Anfield crowd, Klopp brought on Salah, who almost immediately made his mark. The Egyptian played an incredible through-ball to Luis Diaz, who shot wide in a 1v1 with Ortega.
Less than two minutes later, Diaz missed another big chance, failing to get his shot off in another 1v1 after being set up by Darwin Nunez.
There were two more big chances at either end, with Kelleher spreading himself in an Alisson-like action to thwart Phil Foden, while Ortega flung himself at Nunez's close-range effort.
But it was City who came the closest to winning it. In the 89th minute, Doku's shot from the left side of the box beat Kelleher, smashed against a post and bounced across goal and out.
It was the last meaningful chance of an absorbing contest featuring 29 shots, 19 of which came from Liverpool, who also edged possession.
It ends Man City's run of nine away wins in a row in all competitions, and means Liverpool have lost only one of their last 21 home Premier League matches against City.
But the big winners of the match were Arsenal, who leapfrog both teams after their late win over Brentford on Saturday and are in pole position to go on and win a first Premier League title since 2003/04.
Next Premier League matches
Key facts
For the second time in the last three seasons, Liverpool and Manchester City have drawn both of their meetings in a Premier League campaign (2021-22 and 2023-24). Four of the last six meetings between the two in the top flight have ended level, as many as in the previous 17 combined (4).
The team that has scored first in the last eight Premier League meetings between Liverpool and Manchester City has only gone on to win two of those games, with five of them ending level. With Liverpool coming from a goal down, they’ve now recovered a league-high 23 points from losing positions in the competition this term.
Since the start of the 2020-21 season, no fixture has seen both sides score on more occasions in the Premier League than Liverpool v Manchester City (seven times in eight meetings).
Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne has assisted seven goals against Liverpool in the Premier League, with only Ryan Giggs (8) assisting more goals against the Reds in the competition. Indeed, only Andrew Cole (14) and Ryan Giggs (12) have more combined goals and assists against Liverpool in the Premier League than De Bruyne (11 – four goals, seven assists).
Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez was flagged offside five times in this match; the joint-most by a player in a Premier League game this season. Indeed, of the four instances of a player being offside as many as five times in a game in the competition since the start of last season, half of them have been by the Uruguayan (v Arsenal in October 2022 and Manchester City today).