Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool: Hits and Flops | Premier League 2018/19

In what may well be touted as the title-deciding game of the season, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City knew that they had to dig deep into all their available resources as they were coming up against the fresh and mighty Liverpool.

The Merseyside Reds, in turn, have been enjoying a fine seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League table for more than a week now. The clash of the titans was surely going to be a hard-fought battle that would set the tone for the later stages of the competition.

As it turned out a couple of hours later, City showed a lot of substance in their style as they overcame Jurgen Klopp's men with the scoreline reading 2-1 by the time the referee blew his final whistle. Their win not only ended Liverpool's 20-match unbeaten run in the campaign but also reduced their lead at the top of the standings to four points.

Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane netted for City, while Roberto Firmino gave Liverpool a brief equaliser in the second half.

Let us now take a look at the key hits and misses from the game:

#1 Hit - Sergio Aguero (Manchester City)

Aguero's goal gave City the lead in the first half

It was Aguero who opened the goal-scoring process in this high-profile game. Around the 40th minute, a solid passage of play between Aguero and Bernardo Silva in the left-wing eventually resulted in the ball being cut back to the Argentine striker.

Aguero brushed past defender Dejan Lovren by displaying some sublime footwork and then blasted the ball beyond Alisson's hands onto the roof of the goal.

Aguero's goal raised the mood of the game by a few notches as both sides introduced key attacking changes - paving the way to more goals later on. He himself took a few more shots though none of them caused further harm to the visitors.

With the opening goal, Aguero continues to show how important a piece he is in Guardiola's footballing setup at City.

#2 Hit - Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)

Firmino scored Liverpool's goal to equalise the scoreline briefly in the second half

Aguero's goal late in the first half did not elicit a reply from Liverpool until the 64th minute, though they did enjoy a decent amount of time on the ball in the second half. 20 minutes into the second half, Alexander-Arnold drew up a wonderful looping pass across the field and Andrew Robertson did his best and made an inch-perfect run to get hold of the ball at the edge of the box.

He then played the ball across to Bobby Firmino who headed the ball into the net by beating goalkeeper Ederson. Firmino also held Liverpool's famed front-three together for the whole length of time, in a night where Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah surprisingly went off-colour.

#3 Hit - Fernandinho (Manchester City)

After the game, it was certain that a majority of the plaudits would go to Aguero and Sane for their goal-scoring contributions that resulted in City's win, but Fernandinho's great contribution went under the radar.

The Brazilian midfielder held the whole squad together like a true veteran and dictated the play in his own terms the whole time. It may be invisible to a viewer who looks for statistics or skips the video forward to view only the highlight parts, but Fernandinho invariably ticked all the boxes for effort and substance by the virtue of his display against Liverpool.

He was at the forefront of this inspiring display from Manchester City which looked like a champion team against Liverpool, whether or not they end up winning the title.

#1 Flop - Dejan Lovren (Liverpool)

The Croatian defender did not perform at a high level

While the goals certainly get credited into the accounts of Manchester City and its scorers, Klopp's men will have to blame themselves more than their opponents for causing a losing situation. Liverpool's defence was shabby, and Dejan Lovren was at the heart of the failure. Lovren had direct participation in both of City's goals.

While he failed to read Aguero's advancement in the first half, he allowed Sterling way too much space near the penalty box in the second half, allowing him to find a free Sane at the other end of the box.

A pin-pointed pass and an easy strike later, City found themselves leading the scoreline once again, just eight minutes after Firmino had equalised for Liverpool. They maintained the lead for the rest of the game and won the contest, and Klopp won't be too pleased with Lovren's performance. Liverpool fans would be hoping that Joe Gomez and Joel Matip return to fitness quickly

#2 Flop - Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City)

Laporte was not at his best against Liverpool

To be honest, Aymeric Laporte has been one of Manchester City's best defenders since his arrival from Athletic Bilbao last season. He is one of the best centre-backs in the world on any given day, Guardiola, however, preferred to play him as a left back against Liverpool due to the unavailability of Benjamin Mendy.

Laporte has been doing well at the same position in the past few weeks, but he could not maintain his game the same way, earlier today. He had the daunting task of tracking a fiery Salah, apart from his usual defensive duties.

It may be possible that the overwork got the better of him, but there are really no excuses when concluding how he was one of the poorest players on the pitch since he made a few wrong runs and even gave the ball away on a number of occasions.