There is still more than six months of the Premier League season left, with 26 games and no doubt many plot twists ahead, but Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Manchester City on Sunday had the feel of a changing of the guard at the pinnacle of English football.
But it was the manner of Liverpool’s victory at Anfield which suggested that the fans’ nearly 30-year wait for a domestic league title may be coming to a close.
City were by no means poor, and played their part in an entertaining encounter, but Liverpool were better in every department.
Klopp’s side were sharper in attack, where Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane both found the target, more solid at the back and in the midfield were faster, stronger, harder and more incisive, as always helped by their rampaging full-backs.
Liverpool are European champions after overpowering teams of the calibre of Barcelona, bullying them physically, ripping them apart with speedy bursts down the flanks from Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson and through ruthless finishing.
City, though, have won the past two Premier League titles thanks to their technical brilliance and mastery of possession football which they executed with relentless consistency.
However, this season Liverpool have matched that level of consistency, unbeaten and with 11 wins from 12, they arrived at this game with the only question being whether they could cope with the unique challenge of Pep Guardiola’s City machine.
The only conclusion after 90 minutes of high quality football was that Liverpool have no weak spots. It is hard to think of any team in the world who would enter the intimidating atmosphere of Anfield confident of leaving with a win.
City, in contrast, have had a major weakness exposed due to injuries and made an unfathomable mistake in the transfer market by not replacing former captain Vincent Kompany when he left the club in the close-season and that has come back to bite them.
VULNERABLE VISITORS
City inexplicably given their huge resources, went into this season with just three established central defenders — John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte.
Given that Laporte has been sidelined by injury since August and Otamendi’s form has been haphazard at best, City went to Anfield with midfielder Fernandinho filling in alongside Stones.
Liverpool in contrast were able to replace Virgil van Dijk’s injured defensive partner Joel Matip with the experienced Croatian Dejan Lovren and still had England international Joe Gomez in reserve on the bench.
There was no glaring error from City’s defenders but there was an air of vulnerability about them throughout the game and the sense of certainty that Liverpool would punish Guardiola’s back line for any slip-up.
Last season, City delivered a tactically mature and disciplined performance in a goalless draw at Anfield but, as Guardiola conceded, this game was more similar to the 2018 Champions League quarter-final, where City were blown apart after going two goals down in the opening 20 minutes.
“If you give them an inch, they will take that and score goals,” said City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva, who grabbed their late consolation goal.
“That’s what happens. You can play better than Liverpool and be 2-0 or 3-0 behind. They are maybe the best team in the world with their counter-attack, second balls and set pieces.”
City will recover from this loss, surely will strengthen their defence in the January transfer window and it would be a foolish pundit who writes them off.
“It’s still November and we still have games to play. We’re not in an ideal position – we don’t want to lose games – and we have to improve,” said Silva. “We were in this position last season. We’ll never give up.”
Liverpool’s protestations that this game decided nothing were inevitable but there was no hiding the desire Klopp has to deliver that long absent league title.
“Nine points, you cannot imagine that something like this happens,” said the German. “But it’s not important because who wants to be first in early November? We want to be first in May.”
Chelsea notched a sixth successive Premier League win as they beat Crystal Palace 2-0, while Leicester City beat Arsenal 2-0 to move into second place on Saturday.
Wolverhampton Wanderers shrugged off their midweek Europa League exertions to comfortably beat Aston Villa 2-1 in Sunday’s Midlands derby with goals by Ruben Neves and Raul Jimenez. After a slow start to the season, and despite already playing 24 games, Wolves are gathering momentum and a comfortable win lifted them to eighth in the Premier League.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are unbeaten in the league since Sept. 14 and enter the international break in high spirits.
“I’m happy with the performance. We played really good. When you produce so many good things, you want more (goals),” he said. “We always have a threat on the break.”
Villa, on the other hand, remain one place above the bottom three after a difficult afternoon that began when they had to replace injured keeper Jed Steer to injury after five minutes.
With first-choice keeper Tom Heaton missing it meant a debut for Orjan Nyland in the heat of a local derby.
Wolves dominated and the only surprise was it took them until nearly halftime to go ahead.
Villa’s defence switched off from a free kick and Joao Moutinho pulled the ball back for the unmarked Neves to power an unstoppable shot inside the right-hand post.
Another injury for Villa led to left back Matt Targett being replaced before the interval but the visitors showed more endeavour after the break to at least stay in the game.
Wolves should have been well clear with Adama Traore’s thunderous drive smashing against the crossbar, while Jimenez and Diogo Jota also missed good opportunities.
Villa threatened to equalise on the odd occasions, once when Wesley curled a shot wide, but Wolves effectively sealed the points when Jimenez fired into the corner after good work by the dangerous Traore, a former Villa player.
There was some consolation for Villa when Trezeguet halved the deficit in stoppage time but it was too late.
Wolves’s first Premier League win over Villa for eight years lifted them to 16 points from 12 games while Villa remain fourth from bottom with 11 points.
“That’s as bad a first 45 minutes I’ve had since Wigan away last year. Very poor, didn’t start,” he said.
“It appeared the game was bigger for them than it was for us, we didn’t win any balls, duels, didn’t pass it well.
“The best thing I got out of the first half was it was only 1-0 at halftime.”
United climbed to seventh place on 16 points from 12 games after stretching their unbeaten home run against the Seagulls to 12 matches in all competitions. Brighton slipped to 11th place on 15 points.
The home side benefited from a fine individual display by Anthony Martial, who set up two goals and ran tirelessly at Brighton’s defenders.
Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised the Frenchman alongside 19-year-old left back Brandon Williams.
“Anthony Martial did not get a goal but he was outstanding,” Solskjaer told the BBC.
“Brandon Williams was excellent too, he has had some good games already and he seems he wants to be out there and enjoy himself.
“We should have scored many more goals. It was an excellent performance from the lads, when you see them going forward it is a joy to watch.”
Pereira fired United ahead in the 17th minute with a fortuitous goal, as his shot from inside the penalty area took a heavy deflection off Dale Stephens and left Brighton goalkeeper Mathew Ryan stranded.
Pereira initially lost control of the ball as he raced forward before Martial unselfishly teed up the rebound for the Brazilian to hit a left-foot shot.
Propper then bundled the ball into his own net two minutes later as an inswinging free kick from Fred caused havoc in Brighton’s six-yard box. The goal was awarded after a VAR check.
Lewis Dunk pulled one back for Brighton in the 64th minute with a close-range header, but Rashford restored United’s two-goal advantage two minutes later when he blasted in a shot from 12 metres off the underside of the bar.
Again the goal resulted from good work by Martial, who beat a defender and Ryan to the ball before squaring it back for Rashford from a tight angle.
United missed several chances in the closing stages to win by a bigger margin, with Rashford guilty of two glaring misses while Ryan pulled off some superb saves.
The match ended on a sour note for United midfielder Scott McTominay, who limped off injured moments before the final whistle after an innocuous-looking duel.
Chelsea’s Christian Pulisic celebrates scoring their second goal Action Images via Reuters/Tony O’Brien
Stuttering Tottenham Hotspur’s winless run continued as they were held to a draw at home to Sheffield United, leaving last year’s Champions League runners-up languishing in 12th place.
At Turf Moor, Burnley crushed West Ham United 3-0 to pile the pressure on Hammers boss Manuel Pellegrini, but Everton’s Marco Silva finally found some cheer as his side won 2-1 at Southampton.
Newcastle United claimed a second successive win as they beat Bournemouth 2-1 to climb into mid-table.
After their breathless midweek 4-4 home draw with Ajax Amsterdam in the Champions League, Frank Lampard’s Chelsea side enjoyed a rather more straightforward day against Palace
Spurs fans applaud Sheffield crowd as they vent fury at VAR
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Chelsea laboured in the first half against a rugged Palace side, but Tammy Abraham put them ahead after the break with his 10th goal of the season before Christian Pulisic sealed victory with his fifth goal in three league games.
The return of midfield shield N’Golo Kante helped Chelsea keep their third clean sheet of the season and move above champions Manchester City, who face a seismic clash away at league leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Lampard fielded the club’s youngest-ever Premier League line-up at kickoff, giving 19-year-old defender Reece James his first league start, and his trust in youth is paying off.
“I am proud of the squad that we have got, but I also realise it’s still a snapshot in what is the big picture which is the long-term future here,” he said.
“We have got so much improvement to do because the gap was too big last year between us and the top two, and we want to try and close that.”
The mood could not be more different across London at Tottenham.
Spurs were given a fortuitous lead after halftime by Son Heung-min, but George Baldock’s equaliser earned Sheffield United a 1-1 and extended their unbeaten run to five league games.
It was no more than United deserved after they had a David McGoldrick goal ruled out for a fractional offside after a VAR check that took almost four minutes to complete.
While Sheffield United sit proudly in the top six, Tottenham – Champions League finalists in June – are stuck in 12th spot, without a league win since September.
“The reality is that for different reasons we are not showing the performances that we expect,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said after the match.
Arsenal have now gone four games without a win after their defeat at the King Power stadium against a Leicester side that is looking every bit as effective as their 2016 title-winning squad.
Jamie Vardy and James Maddison struck second-half goals as Leicester piled yet more pressure on Arsenal’s struggling Spanish manager Unai Emery.
Premier League top scorer Vardy’s 11th goal of the season left his manager Brendan Rodgers’ purring.
“He is up there with the very, very top strikers in European football with what he brings to a team, his pressing. We’ve allowed him to do essentially what he wants to do,” he said.
West Ham’s early season form is a fading memory, meanwhile, and they have picked up one point from the last 15 on offer.
Burnley had lost their previous three games but dominated on Saturday after Ashley Barnes poked home in the 11th minute.
The hosts were denied a second in the 36th minute when Chris Wood’s header was ruled out by VAR, but Wood did make it 2-0 after a mistake by defender Fabian Balbuena.
West Ham’s misery was complete when keeper Roberto Jimenez punched Ashley Westwood’s corner into his own net.“When you concede so many easy goals it does not help. I am concerned at the easy goals we are conceding,” Pellegrini, whose side have careered down the table, said.
Goals by Tom Davies and Richarlison gave Everton their first away win of the season to leave Southampton stuck in the bottom three. Newcastle trailed at home to Bournemouth but goals by DeAndre Yedlin and Ciaran Clarke sealed a 2-1 win.
