Liverpool piles more misery on City as Salah stars
Mohamed Salah scored one and set up another as Liverpool marched 11 points clear of Manchester City with a 2-0 victory over Pep Guardiola's out-of-form side at Anfield.
Salah, who had previously squandered a great chance to double Liverpool's lead, made sure of the points from the penalty spot after Stefan Ortega had fouled Luis Diaz.
The Egyptian set up Liverpool's early opener, picking out Cody Gakpo with a superb low cross.
Liverpool's dominance rarely looked under threat as it also struck the woodwork twice in the first half, with Kevin De Bruyne failing to convert from City's best opportunity as the visitors lost a fourth straight league game.
Arne Slot's side is now nine points clear at the top of the Premier League, while City is in fifth, with hopes of retaining the title swiftly fading away.
It was a dominant display from Liverpool, helped somewhat by an off-the-pace City performance, but Slot will have no complaints about what he saw from his team.
Defensively it was strong, and the visitors' first shot attempt did not come until the 39th minute, its longest wait for a first effort in a Premier League match since April 2010 against Arsenal (58th minute), while City's first shot on target did not materialise until the 82nd.
Liverpool's nine-point gap at the top is its biggest margin as leader in the competition since the final day of the 2019-2020 season, when it won the title.
City has lost four consecutive Premier League games for the first time since August 2008.
It is also the first time in Guardiola's managerial career that he has lost four consecutive league matches.
Slot said his Liverpool team "came close to perfection" in this victory.
"Yeah [it was almost a perfect match], and if you look at the work-rate, I think it was perfect. The amount of chances we missed made it tight at the end," the Dutchman said.
"But maybe that's nice for matches like this. It should be like this. But it would have been nicer to score the second goal earlier.
"We always press high, but they're so good at build-up. So you have to work very hard. Our players had energy. Apart from our players, the crowd was fantastic today.
"We're a compatible team, and it's difficult to beat us. But also we have to put the effort in. But we have injuries. We had to take Trent [Alexander-Arnold] off. It would have been a risk.
"These are the challenges we face at the moment, but every team has to face these challenges over a season. Next week is a big week against Newcastle and Everton.
"Ideally, I would have loved to have seen the second half being the same as the first half. But the quality of the other team.
"If you want to win against City you have to be perfect in every part of the game. High press, low press, build-up. They bring so many problems to you.
"We came close to perfection. We weren't perfect, but we came close to perfection. That's the only way to beat a quality team like City.
"I don't think anyone, including me, would have predicted this [start]. I knew Jurgen [Klopp] left the team in a very good place.
"But still, to win so much with all the difficult teams we have played already is not something you could predict at the start of the season.
"But, like I say, I saw Arsenal yesterday and Chelsea today and I saw City. They will come back because these teams have so much quality.
"They could go on the same run as us. So we have to stay sharp and focused."
