Liverpool moved 11 points clear of Premier League champions Manchester City with a 2-0 victory at Anfield on Sunday evening.
Premier League
Result: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City
Date: 01 December 2024
Venue: Anfield
City coach Pep Guardiola made the shock decision to drop goalkeeper Ederson for technical reasons as Stefan Ortega was brought back in the side, while the Reds recalled Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
The Reds made a promising start to the encounter and took a deserved lead in the 11th minute when Cody Gakpo got his sixth goal of the campaign by turning home Mohamed Salah's cross.
The Citizens, meanwhile, were finding it tough to carve out chances after going behind as the likes of Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva could not get their foot on the ball.
On the other hand, Liverpool looked extremely dangerous going forward with the pace Gakpo, Salah and Luis Diaz as the City midfield struggled to keep a hold of the ball with Ilkay Gundogan and Rico Lewis.
While City dominated in the early stages of the first half, Liverpool went close to adding a second goal six minutes in when Virgil van Dijk's glancing header sailed just over Ortega's crossbar.
Guardiola responded with his first two changes for the defending league champions after 55 minutes as Jeremy Doku and Savinho replaced Gundogan and Matheus Nunes on the flanks.
However, the Citizens were sucker=punched while trying to find an equaliser as Liverpool won a penalty after Ortega brought down Diaz in the box. Salah stepped despite missing one earlier this week and buried the ball into the bottom corner to double the lead.
Substitute Kevin de Bruyne had a big chance to pull one back with ten minutes to play after pouncing on Van Dijk's horrible back pass, but the Belgian was denied by Caoimhin Kelleher as the Reds held out for the win and clean sheet.
The win takes Liverpool nine points clear of second-place Arsenal and 11 clear of City.
