Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 to hand Andoni Iraola his first defeat as Liverpool manager. Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki scored, and Liverpool were reduced to 10 men after Ryan Gravenberch received a second yellow card.
Haaland finished emphatically to give City the lead after a quiet first half, and Doku added a spectacular goal after Elliot Anderson set him up. Cherki capped the win with a lovely goal of his own.
Liverpool
- Alisson (5): Could do nothing to keep out Haaland’s strike and was then beaten by a beauty from Doku and some solid footwork from Cherki.
- Ronald Araujo (5): Picked up a cheap yellow card early on and will be annoyed that the first two City goals came from his side.
- Virgil van Dijk (6): Often pushed out of position to help Liverpool deal with being outnumbered in midfield. Perhaps could have closed down Haaland quicker.
- Jeremy Jacquet (6): A young talent who is very impressive, though this was a real eye-opener against a quality City attack.
- Milos Kerkez (5): Battled well with Iliman Ndiaye and pushed up regularly but lacked quality in the final third.
- Alexis Mac Allister (5): Grew into the game and put in a good shift but struggled once Liverpool went down to 10 men.
- Ryan Gravenberch (6): Came in for the injured Dominik Szoboszlai and was Liverpool’s best player until he was sent off for a second yellow card. Naive on his part.
- Victor Munoz (7): Played with real fearlessness and was an absolute nuisance for City, causing Nico O’Reilly all sorts of problems.
- Florian Wirtz (4): Simply has to do better, particularly in games of this magnitude. Was largely ineffective and made some poor decisions.
- Bradley Barcola (5): Sharp on the ball and did his defensive duties but, like Wirtz, must do more in the final third.
- Lewis Koumas (7): Making his first Premier League start, the 21-year-old got stuck in from the outset in an energetic display that was loved by the Anfield crowd.
Substitutes not used: Mamardashvili, Endo, Tsimikas, McConnell.
Manchester City
- Gianluigi Donnarumma (7): Had a shaky start but made a string of good saves early in the second half to deny Koumas and Gravenberch and keep the game level.
- Matheus Nunes (7): An impressive display, including a great tackle in the box to deny Barcola in the first half.
- Ruben Dias (7): Did well to weather the early storm and keep Liverpool out.
- Marc Guehi (7): Like Dias, a strong performance at centre-half, and can take satisfaction from the way City defended, especially when Liverpool attacked The Kop end.
- Nico O’Reilly (6): Solid going forward but had his work cut out against Munoz and was booked for a foul on the Spaniard in the second half.
- Elliot Anderson (7): Always showed for the ball and was constantly involved. Lucky not to be booked for pulling back Gravenberch, and got the assist for Doku.
- Enzo Fernandez (6): Forced Alisson into a good stop in the first half but did not really grow into the game until Gravenberch was sent off.
- Iliman Ndiaye (6): Dangerous on the ball and had a few threatening moments before being replaced by Doku.
- Rayan Cherki (8): Capped off a day to remember for City with a lovely goal.
- Antoine Semenyo (7): Threatening all afternoon and part of an attack that was simply too good for Liverpool once City had the man advantage.
- Erling Haaland (8): Had a quiet first half and missed a huge chance early in the second half, but finished emphatically to give City the lead.
- Jeremy Doku (8): Came on for Ndiaye on 56 minutes and scored an absolute belter.
Substitutes not used: Rulli, Kovacic, Reis, Khusanov, Lewis.