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Manchester City overcame an early deficit to secure a 4-1 triumph over rivals Liverpool on Saturday, April 1, and reiterated their claim as contenders for the Premier League title.
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Liverpool took the lead through Mohamed Salah's early strike, making the challenge seem daunting for the home side, particularly given the absence of their leading scorer, Erling Haaland. Nevertheless, Manchester City responded brilliantly to the setback.
Just ten minutes after conceding, Julian Alvarez capped off a skillfully executed passing sequence to level the scores. As the match progressed, Manchester City grew increasingly dominant and created chances at will in the second half.
Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jack Grealish were all on the scoresheet as Pep Guardiola's team delivered a sensational second-half performance to comprehensively beat Liverpool.
"The way we played, the way we found our spaces for how they defend. Our intensity, high pressing," - Guardiola told the BBC in his post-match interview
"Always we have fought against Liverpool, the way they defend, the way they play is so difficult for us. But today the players were magnificent. We played really well in all departments so hats off to our player," he added.
Here are five impressive stats from Manchester City’s 4-1 victory over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium:
1. Four goals against Liverpool for the third time
Guardiola's City have scored four goals against Klopp's Liverpool for the third time in the past three years, more than any other team. The previous two instances were in July 2020 (4-0) and February 2021 (1-4).
2. Rodri's completed passes
Rodri completed 91 passes during the game, which was more than twice the number of passes completed by any Liverpool player.
The Spanish international alone made more passes than the combined total of Liverpool's midfield trio, which included Jordan Henderson, Harvey Elliott, and Fabinho, who completed 86 passes altogether.
3. Home win record
Pep Guardiola achieved City's 100th Premier League home win with him at the helm. He reached this milestone in just 128 matches, breaking Arsene Wenger's record of being the fastest manager to reach 100 home wins in 139 matches.
4. Unbeatable even without Haaland
Despite Erling Haaland, Manchester City's top scorer, missing seven games this season, they have maintained an unbeaten record in those games.
In Haaland's absence, City have won six games and drawn one, scoring a total of 17 goals.
5. Seven matches won in a row
Guardiola's team have achieved a seven-game winning streak across all competitions, during which they've scored a total of 24 goals while conceding only two. Moreover, in their last three matches, they've managed to score 17 goals (seven against RB Leipzig, six against Burnley, and four against Liverpool).
