Arne Slot’s side put paid to the Gunners’ hopes of catching them with a business-like performance – and in the process completed City’s week from Hell
Well, it was nice while it lasted. The illusion of a title race was brutally shot down as Liverpool brushed Manchester City aside on Sunday and effectively ended Arsenal’s hopes of catching them at the top of the Premier League. Goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai secured a 2-0 win that completed City’s week from Hell as the Reds beat their rivals away from home in the Premier League for the first time in a decade, just days after Pep Guardiola’s side had been dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid and Kylian Mbappe.
City had bid farewell to the title race themselves when they were beaten by Liverpool at Anfield back in December, but Arsenal still had a shred of hope of toppling the Reds after Aston Villa had held the league leaders to a draw on Wednesday. The Gunners approached the weekend hoping to cut Liverpool’s advantage down to five points with a game in hand by beating lowly West Ham and hoping for a favour from City. But instead, the Gunners fell to a shock home defeat while Arne Slot’s side ended a season-defining weekend by marching 11 points clear at the top of the table as they close in on a record-equalling 20th English title.
City-Liverpool meetings have often been title showdowns in recent years, but pride was the main thing at stake for Guardiola’s side. They managed to leave with some self-respect by taking the game to the league leaders, but once they fell behind to Salah’s 25th league goal of the season, they never looked like getting back in it. And the players they would usually turn to in their hour of need were nowhere to be seen. Erling Haaland was absent from the squad with the knee injury which led to him missing the defeat in Madrid, and Kevin De Bruyne may as well have been missing as he trundled painfully through the game before Guardiola put him out of his misery and took him off.
De Bruyne has so often been City’s talisman in crunch fixtures like this, but with this pitiful display it felt like he was saying goodbye to elite football. And yet Salah – who is just one year younger than the Belgian – is in the prime of his career and looks set to soon lift his second Premier League crown with the Reds.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…