LIVERPOOL — Manchester City inflicted a first defeat on Andoni Iraola's Liverpool with a statement 3-0 victory at Anfield, as Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all scored to see off the 10-man hosts.
Haaland finished emphatically to give City the lead after a quiet first half in which he had missed a huge chance, before substitute Doku — introduced on 56 minutes for Iliman Ndiaye — scored an absolute belter to double the advantage. Cherki then capped a day to remember with a lovely third goal. Liverpool had earlier been reduced to 10 men when Ryan Gravenberch, who had come in for the injured Dominik Szoboszlai and had been their best player, was sent off for a second yellow card for a naive challenge.
Gianluigi Donnarumma kept City level with a string of good saves early in the second half to deny Lewis Koumas and Gravenberch, while Matheus Nunes produced an impressive display including a great tackle to deny Bradley Barcola. For Liverpool, 21-year-old Koumas marked his first Premier League start with an energetic display loved by the Anfield crowd and Victor Munoz was an absolute nuisance for Nico O'Reilly, with both rated 7. Florian Wirtz was largely ineffective and must do better in games of this magnitude, earning a 4, while Alisson could do nothing about the three strikes and was rated 5.
Cherki, Haaland and Doku all earned 8s as City's standout performers, with Ruben Dias and Marc Guehi both rated 7 for weathering the early storm and defending strongly when Liverpool attacked The Kop end. Antoine Semenyo and Elliot Anderson — who provided the assist for Doku — also scored 7s in an attack that proved too good once City had the man advantage. The result follows Man City's toxic Anfield test after guilty verdict and leaves Iraola tasting defeat for the first time as Liverpool manager.