Manchester City made the season’s loudest statement at Anfield on Sunday, beating 10-man Liverpool 3-0 to extend their perfect Premier League start to six wins from six and re-establish a three-point lead at the top of the table. Second-half goals from Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki sealed back-to-back league wins at Anfield for the first time in 73 years — and it all turned on a 61st-minute red card for Liverpool’s Ryan Gravenberch.
For an hour, this was a contest. Liverpool, under new manager Andoni Iraola, pressed aggressively in front of a hostile home crowd and created the better chances, with City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma called into action several times. But Gravenberch’s second yellow for a foul on Doku — a decision Gary Neville called “very soft” on commentary — tilted the tie. Before the dismissal, City’s expected goals tally stood at just 0.16, according to Sky Sports. Haaland struck two minutes and 36 seconds later, Doku curled in a second, and Cherki finished under Alisson to complete the rout.
The red card that turned the tie
The dismissal was decisive precisely because Liverpool had been so competitive. Debutant Lewis Koumas and Alexis Mac Allister had threatened before the break, and the sides went in 0-0 after a bruising first half. Haaland’s strike also extended his scoring run to six consecutive matches for the club. With the game safe, manager Enzo Maresca could rest his striker for the final ten minutes. Liverpool, who drop to ninth after their first defeat of the season, simply had no answer once reduced to ten men.
What it means for the title race
The victory keeps City flawless under Maresca and restores their cushion at the summit, but the context hangs over everything. This was City’s first match since an independent commission found the club guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules, ruling that “sham” deals artificially inflated revenues by more than £900 million. City deny wrongdoing and have lodged an appeal; no sanction has been handed down, though severe points deductions remain possible if the appeal fails. The Anfield crowd delivered its own verdict — boos for the warm-up and banners declaring “a generation of supporters cheated.” As Liverpool fan Martin Reilly told AFP: “There are so many moments and memories we can’t get back.”
On the pitch, though, the message was unambiguous: the league leaders are ruthless when they smell blood. Full details are in Sky Sports’ report. Across the Atlantic, October baseball is heating up too: Pages delivered late as the Dodgers reached a third straight NLCS, with NLCS Game 1 between the Brewers and Dodgers up tonight.
