Crushing Liverpool, Man City increase pressure on Arsenal
The pressure of being dropped by Arsenal 8 points, the fear of the absence of Erling Haaland and the interruption of performance because of the two-week break are still not enough to prevent Man City from extending the sublimation momentum. Despite the sloppiness of the defense that made them conceded by Salah in the 17th minute, the Premier League champions still showed outstanding strength. Alvarez - who replaced Haaland - equalized in the first half, before De Bruyne, Gundogan and Grealish completed the comeback in the second half.
Defeating Liverpool 4-1 in the earliest match in the 29th round of the English Premier League, Man City extended the winning streak in all competitions to 7 matches. The latest three points also help the defending champion shorten the gap with Arsenal to 5 points, and increase the pressure when the top team Leeds in the series after two and a half hours.
The match that is expected to be the great battle in the 29th round of the English Premier League is actually only attractive in the first half. That's when Liverpool still showed their desire to win both for honor and points to race into the top 4 - where they were 7 points behind Tottenham. Klopp's students played stubbornly and successfully took advantage of an awkward offside trap situation on the home side to open the scoring in the 17th minute. Diogo Jota escaped, skillfully controlled the Man City defender to withdraw. close, then pass back to Salah to put his lap, defeat Ederson. Liverpool then kicked solid, not hesitated to foul and heat up the game towards the end of the first half.
But Man City, at home, still shows the authority of a defending champion. They held the ball approximately 64% in the first half, created more chances and equalized with a good combination after 27 minutes. Gundogan left the ball to Grealish for the winger to clear the offside trap and then stretch it across the bridge. subject for Alvarez to easily beat Alisson in the face-to-face phase.
In the stands, Haaland was overjoyed to see his replacement shine. In addition to the piste, coach Guardiola also waved his hand to the sky in satisfaction. In his first season in the Premier League, Alvarez scored 6 goals. On all fronts, his record is 13 goals - not bad statistics for a reserve striker.
Although Liverpool seem to lack an attacking mentality, with Darwin Nunes coming off the bench and Salah underperforming, Manchester City is not just about Alvarez playing well. Almost the entire central line and their offensive line have achieved positive results. "De Bruen was no longer explosive and still raised the score to 2-1 with a penalty kick at the beginning of the second half, with Graylish's assist line confirming the result.". Gundogan played an excellent coordinating role in the midfield, launching most of the home team's attacks and calmly handling them in the 54th minute penalty area, raising the score directly to 3-1. In addition to creating a 1-1 draw, Graylish was the author of a series of quick passes that disrupted the visiting team. The $100 million forward also gave an oblique kick after being knocked down against Debrouen.
After the first three goals, Liverpool's morale was low. They constantly left two margins gaping, while the attack became more and more lifeless. Coach Jurgen Klopp had to forcefully replace four positions at the same time, withdrawing Salah, Jota, Robertson and Elliot, making room for Nunez, Firmino, Tsimikas and Oxlade-Chamberlain to replace from the 70th minute, but it did not improve the situation. Grealish's goal to increase the score to 4-1 in the 74th minute blew away the last bit of resistance on the Liverpool side, and helped Man City play leisurely until the end of the game.
Man City will rest for a full week and then be a guest of Southampton in the 30th round of the Premier League on April 8, before returning to Etihad to face Bayern in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. Meanwhile, Liverpool only took a few days off and then marched to London, as a guest of Chelsea in the round of 8 match on April 4, then returned to Anfield to host Arsenal in the round of 30 on April 9.
