Manchester City’s Jack Grealish didn’t start when Liverpool visited last season, but this time he was right at the heart of their dominant 4-1 win.
— Manchester City kept the pressure on Arsenal in the Premier League title race with a dominant 4-1 win over Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
Liverpool went ahead against the run of play through Mohamed Salah in the first half but City equalised before half-time thanks to Julian Alvarez’s 13th goal of the season. When Kevin De Bruyne put Pep Guardiola’s side in front moments after the break, there was only going to be one winner.
Ilkay Gundogan made it 3-1 with a close-range finish before Jack Grealish made it 4-1 as City closed the gap at the top of the table to five points.
Discussing Erling Haaland’s injury at his news conference on Friday, Guardiola made a point of saying that City without the 42-goal striker « are not worse, just different. »
It helps, of course, when you’ve got a player like Alvarez to come in but with Haaland stuck in the stands because of a groin injury, Liverpool were swept aside and Guardiola was proved right.
Alvarez scored one and was involved in two others while Grealish and De Bruyne each got a goal and an assist to show that City’s attack is not just about one man — regardless of how many goals the Norway international scores and records he breaks.
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Guardiola doesn’t care who scores as long as someone does and he’ll be far more concerned with the fact that a difficult game in the title race has been won and the pressure, for now, is back on Arsenal.
Worryingly for Mikel Arteta and his players, City look to be starting one of their ominous runs. It’s now seven consecutive wins in all competitions and four league wins in a row for the first time this season. They’ve also scored 17 goals in their past three games and conceded one in their past six. Arsenal have a fight on their hands.
Grealish didn’t start when Liverpool visited the Etihad last season but there was never any chance that he would miss out this time. Guardiola used him sparingly in his first year following his British-record £100 million move from Aston Villa in 2021 but, now into his second season, he’s a regular in the team.
With the focus more often than not on Haaland, Grealish’s development has gone under the radar but he’s started 13 of City’s last 15 games and against Liverpool he was the main man in a 60-second spell which turned the game.
With Liverpool already leading 1-0, Salah raced through followed by Diogo Jota. As Salah tried to square his pass for his teammate to tap in a second, Grealish ended a 40-yard sprint to get a vital toe on the ball to nudge it back to Ederson.
