Manchester City v Liverpool: 3 Talking points from the match

An entertaining first half dissolved into a tired second half

Manchester City and Liverpool played an entertaining first half with both teams going for each other’s throats. However in the second half it became nothing as both teams played out a dull half to end the match on equal terms. The result leaves Liverpool at third place and Manchester City still at 10^th place. Next up for Liverpool is Leicester and Manchester City has Tottenham Hotspurs. Here are the three talking points from the match

1. Mohamed Salah on course to bettering his 2017/18 season

Salah is on fire for Liverpool this season and is key in moving forward

Mohamed Salah seems a different beast this season. Starting this season with a hat-trick against a brilliant Leeds United, he has gone from one strength to another. With 8 goals already after 8 games, he is on course to break his own goal record in the 2017/18 season. If he does that, there is no question that Mohamed Salah is the greatest winger in the Premier League.

He also has created so many chances that had they been scored, he would be higher in the assists chart. Liverpool will stand to benefit now as Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota together with him are so threatening.

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2. The injury crisis has a new member

Trent Alexander-Arnold limped off the field against Manchester City. He fell to the ground clutching his lower leg and had to be substituted after it. Preliminary news is that he will miss the international break for England. Jurgen Klopp said that the injury doesn’t look good for him.

He joins Virgil Van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the injury room and now Liverpool don’t have their first choice right-back. It remains to be seen if Klopp uses Joe Gomez or Neco Williams or James Milner at right back. Next up for Liverpool is Leicester and if any of their defenders are not at the top of their class, Jamie Vardy will rip them apart.

Anyway not everything is bad as Thiago Alcantara and Fabinho will be back after the international break.

3. Manchester City should have won this match

Kevin De Bruyne’s miss from the penalty spot was terrible as it wasn’t even a shot on target. Neither did it hit the post nor was the keeper going to save it. That should have won the match for them and yet the spoils were split. De Bruyne looked so threatening from open play and his pass to Gabriel Jesus was nothing short of special.

1 – Kevin De Bruyne's penalty is the first to miss the target completely in a @premierleague game since October 2018, when in the same fixture at Anfield, Riyad Mahrez blazed over against Liverpool for Manchester City. Spooky. #MCILIV pic.twitter.com/OesSCn9NSk
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 8, 2020

Jesus had a chance to finish off the match himself as his header from Joao Cancelo’s cross went awfully wide. The former was 6 yards off the goal post and had all the time in the world to pick his spot. Yet he couldn’t have done a more terrible job than there as Liverpool survived a second scare. Both teams played brilliantly in the first half and there couldn’t have been any predictions on who would have won the match. Yet under the continuous downpour in Manchester, play became laborious as the ball didn’t roll too much.

Liverpool seemed to have felt the most as the entire team barring Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson were tired. The international break is a blessing for those who don’t play, while it is hell for the ones who will play.

Also read: Arsenal v Aston Villa match report