Liverpool suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday afternoon, with Trent Alexander-Arnold singled out for criticism. City were eight points behind Arsenal in the Premier League table going into the match and knew that they could not afford to lose at the Etihad. Liverpool took the lead through Mohamed Salah, but City came back strongly, with Julian Alvarez equalising and Kevin de Bruyne putting them ahead after the break. Alexander-Arnold was accused of bottling a 50/50 challenge in the build-up to De Bruyne’s goal, and his poor performance continued as City dominated the game. Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish both scored to make it 4-1, leaving Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp frustrated with his team’s performance.
City’s win will give them huge confidence as they look to close the gap on Arsenal in the Premier League title race. The Gunners take on Leeds on Saturday afternoon with a chance to regain their eight-point lead, but with the two sides set to meet in the Premier League later this month, the result of that match could prove crucial for either team with time running out this season.
Pep Guardiola’s side tore Liverpool open, with Grealish having a particularly impressive game. Alexander-Arnold was guilty of not rushing out to meet the swashbuckling winger quicker as he delivered a pinpoint cross for his Argentine teammate to score a tap-in. Speaking live on talkSPORT, Stuart Pearce said: “You can see the frustration in [manager Jurgen] Klopp. “Trent Alexander-Arnold has jumped out of the way of a challenge and that is absolutely woeful. Why he’s jumped out of a 50/50 I will never know. But the ball across the face of the goal was outstanding and it’s a lovely goal.”
City only ramped up their domination as the game went on with Liverpool unable to get anywhere near them as they cruised past players, who barely even made a challenge. And on 53 minutes it was 3-1, when more shoddy defending allowed City to creep closer and closer towards goal until an Alexander-Arnold block saw the ball at Ilkay Gundogan’s feet from six yards out. The German had the simple task of tucking it past Alisson before Grealish scored the goal his performance deserved when him and De Bruyne traded passes leaving Alexander-Arnold dizzy before the Englishman made it four.
Klopp wasn’t happy with some of the defending once City got into their rhythm. “We concede this first goal with I think an open ball in midfield where we don’t even have a challenge then we are too deep and the counter-attack happens. Great play. 2-1. [For the third goal] we have a massive overload on one side, should win the ball but don’t even have a challenge. These kinds of things cannot happen. But they happened and after that… wow! We just had to follow as they did whatever they wanted. We were lucky they weren’t in a greedy mood. About that, there is nothing good to say about this game. This is a game we have to use unfortunately and make clear which things cannot happen. We can not have challenges in key areas or be that open. Now I stand here and have to explain it but I cannot explain it. I cannot change it now, here, I can just report what I saw and we will talk about it tomorrow. These things happened too often.”
City’s win was a comprehensive one, and will give them confidence as they look to close the gap on Arsenal in the Premier League table. Liverpool, on the other hand, will be left to rue their poor performance, with Alexander-Arnold singled out for criticism for his role in City’s goals. With time running out this season, both teams will be looking to make the most of their remaining fixtures in order to achieve their goals.