Liverpool 1-0 Man City: Sensational Mohamed Salah goal seals hosts win as Jurgen Klopp sees red

Mohamed Salah’s sensational second-half goal sealed a 1-0 victory for Liverpool over Manchester City in a thrilling encounter at Anfield which also saw Jurgen Klopp sent off.

Salah, fresh off his six-minute hat-trick against Rangers, produced a brilliant check to clear Alisson’s long kick and away from Joao Cancelo before beating Ederson with a cool finish (76) then that Liverpool were putting their recent struggles behind them. .

Klopp’s red card came as tempers frayed in the closing stages, the Liverpool manager was fired after reacting furiously when the hosts were denied a free kick for an apparent foul by Bernardo Silva on Salah , whose goal ended a five-game Premier League scoreless streak.

This incident came after Pep Guardiola was also angered earlier in the game when a Phil Foden goal was ruled out by VAR after Erling Haaland was deemed to have fouled Fabinho during the build-up.

Liverpool entered the game 13 points behind City after their worst start to the season in 10 years, but they defended resolutely, becoming only the second Premier League side all season to prevent Haaland from scoring, and seizing their chance when Salah, who had previously been denied by Ederson in similar circumstances, erupted Anfield with a goal that brings their season to life.

For City, meanwhile, the loss ends their unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign and leaves them four points behind early leaders Arsenal, who beat Leeds 1-0 earlier on Sunday.

How Liverpool stopped the City machine

Liverpool faced a daunting task against a City side who had scored 13 goals in their last three Premier League games and that task was made even more difficult before a ball was kicked.

A muscle injury to Ibrahima Kante saw the France international join Joel Matip on the sidelines, meaning Joe Gomez had to move to centre-back and James Milner had to substitute at right-back, with Trent Alexander-Arnold just fit enough for the bench.

The makeshift backline faced a stern test against Halaand, who scored for free, and the City striker had a string of half chances before the break after being rested against FC Copenhagen in the middle week.

The first of those chances saw him denied by Alisson when he tried to chip Liverpool keeper Ilkay Gundogan’s pass. He then repelled two chances with a header, the second of which came from a Kevin De Bruyne cross.

Liverpool held firm, however, and also created their own first-half openings, with Diogo Jota sending a free header straight at Ederson from Harvey Elliott’s cross, and the returning Andrew Robertson blazing after another dangerous attack.

It was after the break, however, that the game really exploded.

A frantic period began with Ederson brilliantly saving from Salah after the Egyptian had set City’s offside trap through Roberto Firmino’s pass, and within minutes City thought they were ahead.

Foden was the man to have the ball in the net, firing via a deflection from the otherwise exceptional Gomez after Alisson failed to recover a pass from De Bruyne under pressure from Haaland.

But City’s joy was short-lived as referee Anthony Taylor was instructed to consult the pitchside monitor and duly penalize Haaland for pulling Liverpool midfielder Fabinho’s shirt.

The reprieve emboldened Liverpool, with Jota closing in again when he headed in from a Salah cross at the far post, but City continued to threaten as well, with Haaland in a superb one-handed save from Alisson shortly after.

It was Liverpool, however, who made the breakthrough, Salah’s exceptional control of Alisson’s spot-kick past Cancelo and put him through for the second time.

City struggled to break down Liverpool as they tried to fight back in the closing stages, with tensions boiling over when Klopp was carded off by Taylor.

But it was Liverpool who created the better chances, with substitute Darwin Nunez inexplicably choosing to shoot rather than find a team-mate in a three-on-one attack, and fellow substitute Alexander Arnold also closing in.

In the end, however, one goal was enough. Enough to kick off Liverpool’s season, perhaps, and certainly enough to let City catch up on surprise leaders Arsenal.

And after?

liverpool are back in action on Wednesday when they host West Ham at Anfield, with kick-off at 7:30 p.m.

Manchester City don’t have a midweek date which means their next outing is on Saturday when Brighton meet at the Etihad Stadium, kicking off at 3pm.