Manchester City Dominates Liverpool 3-0 at Anfield Following Gravenberch Red Card

Manchester City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League season with a 3-0 demolition of Liverpool at a hostile Anfield on Sunday. Enzo Maresca's side were playing their first match since it was announced City had been found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules – which the club are appealing – but turned on the style in the second half on Merseyside.

A tight and edgy game opened up in the 62nd minute when Ryan Gravenberch was sent off after picking up a second yellow card. Three minutes later, Erling Haaland opened the scoring with a fine first-time finish.

Substitute Jeremy Doku, who was sensational after coming on, curled home a second before Rayan Cherki made it three, with all the goals coming in 13 minutes. It was City's sixth win in six matches in the Premier League, and leaves them three points ahead of Arsenal – who beat Leeds 2-1 on Saturday – at the top of the table. Liverpool are ninth on nine points after falling to their first league defeat of the campaign in what was their joint biggest Premier League loss at Anfield.

What they said

Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola: “The first part is that we played two different games. One until the red card, and then after. For 60 minutes, the players were very good. The second game from the red card was where City were better than us. The first yellow card was just a kick in the toe. It was nothing. It was a normal foul. It was the moment when we were pushing more. The momentum was coming for us, and the atmosphere in the stadium was so nice. We conceded very little in the first half. We did a really good job. The second half, we were translating into chances. You learn a lot in games like today. I am very proud of my players. They put the work rate and everything in today. It's a loss, and we didn't get anything from the performance, but I liked it a lot.”

Man City striker Haaland: “Every single person [who is a] part of Man City, and every fan, this is a lovely moment that will stay with us for a long time. It was tough, it was hard, but we showed amazing character from back to front. So proud of everyone. It's always tough to come here; if you look at the record, it's tough. With the Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp era it was tough for both teams; it always has been. Important to stay strong mentally, stick together and do what you can do something about and the thing we can do something about is to play good football and fight together. That's the only thing we can do. I missed a big chance right before so it was about focusing on getting another chance. The moment came and I took it. Proud to score three goals at Anfield because that doesn't happen often.”

Player Ratings

Liverpool:
Alisson Becker – 7/10
Ronald Araujo – 6/10
Virgil van Dijk – 6/10
Jeremy Jacquet – 6/10
Milos Kerkez – 7/10
Alexis Mac Allister – 7/10
Ryan Gravenberch – 5/10
Victor Munoz – 7/10
Florian Wirtz – 4/10
Lewis Koumas – 7/10
Bradley Barcola – 6/10
Substitutes: Trey Nyoni – 6/10, Jeremie Frimpong – 5/10, Rio Ngumoha – 6/10, Joe Gomez – N/A, Federico Chiesa – N/A

Man City:
Gianluigi Donnarumma – 7/10
Matheus Nunes – 7/10
Ruben Dias – 8/10
Marc Guehi – 8/10
Nico O'Reilly – 7/10
Enzo Fernandez – 7/10
Elliot Anderson – 8/10
Antoine Semenyo – 7/10
Rayan Cherki – 8/10
Iliman Ndiaye – 5/10
Erling Haaland – 8/10
Substitutes: Jeremy Doku – 9/10, Josko Gvardiol – 7/10, Allan – N/A, Ayyoub Bouaddi – N/A