Manchester City vs Liverpool summary: goals, score, stats, & highglights | Premier League 2025-26

That's all, folks!

Thanks for tuning into the live feed, make sure to check out AS USA for all the fallout of this week's action across Europe and beyond.

Joe

Here's how Sofascore saw the game

The boffins at Sofascore HQ have City down with an xG rating of 1.59, registering a whopping 14 shots with 6 on target.

What a fantastic performance from City

Manchester City dominated their opponents from the first whistle to the last, making last season's champions look utterly toothless up front and frail at the back.

Doku will take the headlines for a stunning game in which he tore into Conor Bradley time and time again, creating danger from the wing on countless occasions in the first half. While the second period was somewhat quieter for the winger, he topped it off with a stunning goal that will take the award for the best this weekend if not this month.

It was another masterclass from Guardiola who got three points on his 1,000th game as a manager, and he will remember this for a long time, making Liverpool look lame for 93 minutes.

Full-time:

Foden trieshis luck from distance but drags his weak effort wide.

Szoboszlai gets a booking for shoving over little Phil.

3 added minutes.

Savinho steals the ball from Jones before being brought down by the frustrated midfielder. The easiest booking of the evening.

O'Reilly wiggles his way into the box and unleashes a powerful effort that doesn't trouble the goalkeeper.

Liverpool look to mount a late challenge to shake City's defensive block open like a jigsaw inside a cardboard box; but they'd have more chance of the jigsaw magically being put together by the time they open it.

OVER THE BAR. City break and it's O'Reilly who fires an effort high into Row Q of the Etihad.

Doku's performance for City today

Those Sofascore stats tell a very interesting story.

We're into the final ten minutes and you can't help but think that Liverpool are going nowhere here. It's not been their night in many aspects - if Salah can't score that typical chance he's scored a million times, then nothing is going to go in.

As I type, the Egyptian is caught offside.

WIDE! Salah breaks in behind the City defence but his clipped shot bounces agonisingly wide of the goal,

Van Dijk has named himself Liverpool striker and is refusing to drop back into his defensive line. A clipped ball almost finds the defender/striker but Donnarumma manages to get down low quickly to smother it.

SAVE. Donnarumma saves Szboszlai's rocket from the edge of the box, in what is a real battle of tough names to spell quickly.

Mind you, it would've been worse had the Hungarian accidentally shot towards his own goal.

Just under fifteen minutes to go.

Szoboszlai is the only Liverpool player offering anything worth talking about at the moment; he wins another corner for his side after seeing his cross deflected behind.

Liverpool change:

OFF: Mac Allister

ON: Jones

City change:

OFF: Doku

ON: Marmoush

Nunes puts Szoboszlai's driven cross behind as to not risk anyone running in behind him. Liverpool win a corner.

The last few seconds sum up Liverpool's evening: Foden plays a ridiculously poor cross-field pass from left to right that lands at the feet of Gakpo.

He plays square to Mac Allister who lays off to his Hungarian teammate for the shot, but he decides to cross and it instead dribbles into the box with less oomph than a suicidal pea rolling off the chopping board.

City look happy to sit in a 4-5-1 shape and soak up the Liverpool switches of play in front of them: there's no penetration from a Liverpool side who have had the life sucked out of them with that Doku strike.

A couple of Liverpool subs from earlier:

OFF: Ekitiké, Robertson

ON: Gakpo, Kerkez

Back underway.

You can guess exaclty what I'm going to say: the winger takes the ball on the edge of the box, cuts inside on his right foot and whips a sensational strike into the top corner of the goal - not even Mr Fantastic's stretchy arms could save that one.

WHAT A GOAL FROM DOKU

OVER THE BAR! A big chance for Liverpool goes begging as Gakpo spoons a close range effort over the top of the goal from a yard out. Bradley's driven ball flew across goal, but the forward couldn't direct it on target.

CLOSE! Nico González almost scores an own goal as his wayward defensive header spins wildly over Donnarumma's goal.

Doku skips inside and sends a shot into Mamardashvili's ribs.

Savinho's first action is to get in behind Robertson and win a corner for his side.

Foden's free-kick is poor and crashes into the wall.

City make an early change:

OFF: Cherki

ON: Savinho

Foul on the edge of the box by Bradley and City have a huge chance to test Mamardashvili.

City countered well but Cherki's decision was poor, opting to shoot instead of squaring to Haaland, alone in the box. The ball landed with Nico, who was taken down by a late leg from County Tyrone.

Gasps of fear from fans in blue as Donnarumma flies out of his goal and misses the ball 35 yards from goal. The Gravenberch pass split open the City defence but luckily for the Italian goalkeeper, Gvardiol was there with his sweeping brush to clean up the mess.

Lots of lost possession as the rain lashes down in Manchester. Liverpool win a corner but Van Dijk's contact goes behind for a goal kick.

Liverpool start strongly and Salah finds space on the right. He plays the ball into the feet of Ekitike, who sees his shot blocked by a red wall.

Here we go for the second half!

The players are back on the pitch.

Here's how Haaland got above Konaté

This could well be a video, showing us how long he stayed in the air for.

Here's how Sofascore saw the first half

It's been pretty much City's game for the first 45; let's see how they carry on.

Half-time thoughts:

It was almost going to be the Doku show, but that guy City have up front can't score a penalty. I'm joking of course: the winger has been the standout in the game, with his uber-open position on the pitch allowing him to go 1vs1 against Conor Bradley and, at least for now, win every time.

Doku has been the outlet for the home team who have dominated in terms of possession and chances created, putting up 6 shots to Liverpool's 3.

But it was Haaland - who else? - who got the first goal, a thunderous header after meeting a cross from the right.

Liverpool countered and scored a nice headed goal themselves, but it was ruled out for offside. Apart from that spell, they've struggled to create and found it even harder to find their front players.

City made it two just before the break, with Liverpool giving Nico too much space on the edge of the box before a deflection saw his shot dribble agonisingly past Mamardashvili. They have a lot of work to do in the second half as the rain (finally) comes down in Manchester.

That's a fantastic challenge from Conor Bradley inside the box but it was a correction after giving Doku too much space in behind the drive towards goal.

Back underway. Now we've got some noise at the Etihad.

The midfielder received the ball on the edge of the box as Liverpool sat back. He shaped to shoot and dragged the effort towards the near post, with Mamardashvili being caught out by a slight deflection on its way.

Cherki gets the ball on the edge of the box and drives towards goal. He has multiple chances to pull back his left leg and shoot, but chooses to keep going all the way to the by-line before seeing his poor cross caught by Mamardashvili.

7 minutes added.

Liverpool are looking for ways to create in the middle third of the pitch but nothing is coming off as of yet. City are managing to hold them off quite successfully.

Bernardo Silva goes into the referee's book for City's first booking of the evening.

Mac Allister races back to clear a cross from Doku, who burst down the left side and sent in a low ball that looked dangerous.

As you were...

OFFSIDE. Robertson judged to 'interfere with play'.

VARcheck for a possible offside from Robertson, who was stood in front of the goalkeeper...

The corner comes in and Van Dijk jumps highest to head past Donnarumma!

Some nice touches from Szoboszlai give Liverpool a breather; his superb cross-field pass finds Salah, who wins his side a corner.

Mac Allister gets a booking for leaving a late leg in on Doku.

Liverpool step up their press and have caused a few City mistakes in the last 120 seconds.

Slot will at least be happy with that, if not the concession of the space out wide for Nunes to cross (you can't do anything about the Haaland header, except by signing Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein).

Back underway.

Matheus Nunes finds a yard on the right to swing in a cross that is sent towards the far post. Haaland crouches before pushing down and springing up, jumping to the height of 50 men. He waits an eternity in the air, floating, hair waving gracefully, and thunders a furious header into the far corner of the net.

A million times more difficult than a penalty, but that has never stopped him before.

A SENSATIONAL HEADER

The first booking of the night goes to Nico, who takes down Wirtz as the German breaks away on the counter attack.

SAVE. Mamardashvili saves Doku's shot from a tight angle. The winger danced into the box and spun around Bradley before lashing the ball towards the near post.

Cherki wants to thread the ball through the tiniest of gaps into Foden, who is stood just ahead of Van Dijk and Konaté. It's almost impossible, however, and Liverpool recover the ball. 

We're back underway and the left-back is back on the pitch.

Guardiola looks absolutely shellshocked on the bench, just like a man who has managed 1,000 football matches.

O'Reilly is up and walking off the pitch, ready to come back on.

Salah has only seen the ball a few times, but O'Reilly has seen enough. He's on the floor and the City medical staff are racing towards him.

Twenty gone and Liverpool are slowly finding their feet on the ball, and are managing to give Salah some more touches.

Liverpool recover the ball and have some space to mount an attack, but Wirtz plays a shockingly short pass out to Robertson on the left, who had burst forward to create a nice overload in City's wide area. The chance goes begging.

OVER THE BAR. Doku (again) with the space to do as he pleases, which is dribble like a puppy with a balloon and cross into the box. The low ball lands with Cherki, who bends a shot from the edge of the box into the stands. 

The penalty miss hasn't harmed the atmosphere, in case you were wondering. It's still flat.

I'm joking, it's actually quite loud at the Etihad today, with the pressure ramped up to 14.

This time it's Bernardo Silva whose legs are too small, and the Portuguese wizard can't get on the end of a pass fired low through the middle of the Liverpool defence.

As you were...

We're back underway.

Haaland went low to his right and the ex-Valencia stopper went the same way, getting down well to push the ball away!

Haaland will take the penalty for City.

Chris Kavanagh is checking the screen. There's contact between Mamardashvili's leg and Doku's boot, but is it enough for a penalty?

MADNESS INSIDE THE BOX! Doku skips past a thousand challenges in the box and cuts inside to shoot. He's blocked by the Liverpool goalkeeper, he goes down, and the ball lands with Cherki, who sees his shot blocked.

The referee will go to the screen as it seems Doku was actually tripped up by Mamardashvili, who rushed out to save the day.

Wirtz gets his first touches and is promptly pushed off the ball by Nunes who steps in well to cut off the path down Liverpool's left wing.

City break but Foden can't stretch his legs long enough to get on the end of a dangerous ball in behind the away defence. Long legs aren't really his main feature, to be fair.

O'Reilly fires down the left and plays inside to Doku, whoskips past Bradley inside the box. The winger is then met with 3 red shirts, and one of them (Mac Allister) hoofs the ball away from the danger zone.

Doku, who's moved over the right wing twice in these opening minutes, goes down and wins a free-kick on halfway.

As you might expect, the away side are pressing high, but they're not going crazy-man-to-man all over the pitch. It's a reserved high press, if there's such a thing.

Of course, this is exactly how they beat Real Madrid earlier in the week, knowing perfectly well when to jump and when to sit a little further back.

City get possession and break down the right, where Liverpool squeeze them into a tiny box. The home side work it back and restart their attack.

It's played back to Van Dijk and launched high into the air, as is the way in the Premier League these days.

And we're off!

Liverpool get us going from right to left.

A reminder of the XIs:

MCI: Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O'Reilly; Nico, Bernardo, Foden; Doku, Haaland, Cherki

LIV: Mamardashvili; Bradley, Van Dijk, Konaté, Robertson; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Wirtz, Salah; Ekitike

Recent results:

23 Feb 2025: Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool

1 Dec 2024: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City

10 Mar 2024: Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool

25 Nov 2023: Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool

1 Apr 2023: Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool

The players are in the tunnel!

We're almost ready to go!

Who to watch: Doku

Given that switch, I’m keen to keep an eye on Doku during the game, as it will be interesting to see if he occupies the same spaces as he did in the game against Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth or not. 

As mentioned, he played a curious role and it was one that worked well. While he succeeds regularly in causing chaos out wide for opposition full-backs, if he manages to find that space in the middle, Haaland is only a flick of the boot away.

It's chilly outside!

It's woolly hats and scarves inside the Etihad stadium, with the sun long gone from the horizon and the temperature floating at around 54ºF/12ºC.

Sofascore have run the numbers...

The Norwegian monster up front for Manchester City is just two goals shy of reaching 100 in the Premier League, but he's almost 20 games ahead of the top spot, occupied by Alan Shearer. He'd need to score just 2 in 17 games not to beat the Geordie's record.

Almost time to go!

Both teams are finishing their warmups ahead of kick-off as the fans start to make some serious noise inside the stadium!

Guardiola's recent tactical switch

The Manchester City manager made an interesting tactical switch in his side’s last Premier League game, which came against Bournemouth.

Instead of playing Doku and Cherki out wide on the wings, they often took up positions inside, even occupying the middle channel of the pitch.

This allowed them to fill up the centre of the park and overload Bournemouth’s midfield, as well as give their full-backs a freer role in the wide areas. It worked, and Iraola’s quick switches of play took longer, giving City more opportunity to recover and attack in quick transitions.

It wasn’t quite Ancelotti’s two number 10s in a Christmas tree, but more a solution to the problem of needing sharp, fast movements in the tight spaces that appeared in between the two teams’ structures.

A sneak peak at the Liverpool dressing room

It's nice to know we're getting the classic kit colours from both sides today, and that the away team aren't playing in some volt green 4th kit sponsored by Katy Perry's dog's fashion brand.

Warmups underway!

The away side have stepped out onto the pitch for their pre-match warmup routine.

Liverpool's recent game against Real Madrid

The Reds looked back to their brilliant best against Real Madrid in the Champions League during midweek, winning 1-0 at Anfield.

They accumulated over 2.5xG across the multitude of chances they created, while limiting Xabi Alonso's side to peanuts. While Real Madrid bossed the possession, Liverpool knew exactly when to step up and when to drop off, and they killed Madrid on the break time after time.

Game recognises game

Neil Warnock has congratulated Pep Guardiola on reaching his 1,000th game as manager, calling him "the best" he's ever seen.

Who to watch: Szoboszlai

The Liverpool midfielder is quietly turning into one of the most important players in Arne Slot's side, with the Hungarian proving his worth as a creative force as well as a goalscorer.

While he only has a goal and an assist in the Premier League this season, he has created three goals in Europe, his sprints are a key factor in the high-intensity football that Slot wants to play. And then, of course, there is his quality from set pieces.

Haaland in frightening form

Erling Haaland is shushing all doubters once again with a sensational record in front of goal. The Norwegian forward has 13 goals in 10 Premier League games this season (a goal every hour), as well as 5 in 4 Champions League appearances.

Whether it’s running in behind, beating a man 1vs1, leaping to head in a dead ball, or rushing in at the right moment to score from two yards out, Haaland is doing it all for City this season.

He’s scored 13 league goals from 10.25xG, showing that he’s putting away difficult chances that many other players would fail to score. 

Conor Bradley set for another high profile performance

The Liverpool right-back made headlines across the world with his stellar performance against Real Madrid in the Champions League, managing to keep both Vini Jr and Kylian Mbappé at bay all night, reducing them to pretty much nothing.

He's set to go up against Doku today, if the winger reverts to his more natural wide position, but we'll have more on that nuance later... 

City's last game:

City’s recent form has been hugely positive, and they come into the game off the back of wins against Swansea (Carabao Cup), Aston Villa and Bournemouth (Premier League), and Borussia Dortmund (Champions League).

The most recent game was arguably the most promising, as they swept the German team aside, winning 4-0 and with ease. Goals from Foden (2), Haaland, and Cherki saw them take the three points in the league stage and they didn’t give their opponents a sniff at any point in the match, looking solid across all bases. 

Guardiola reaches 1,000 games as a manager

The Catalan coach's appearance on the touchline today will be his 1,000th as a manager.

Guardiola has been at City the longest, with 550games today; he has 247 under his belt as Barcelona coach, 161 at Bayern, and 42 as Barcelona B team manager.

In that time, he's gone on to become who many would call the greatest ever manager. 

At Barcelona, between 2008 and 2012, Guardiola claimed 14 trophies, including three La Liga titles, two Copa del Reys, and three Spanish Super Cups. On the European and world stage, he guided Barcelona to two UEFA Champions League triumphs, two UEFA Super Cups, and two FIFA Club World Cups.

After leaving Spain, Guardiola took charge of Bayern Munich from 2013 to 2016, where he won seven trophies. These included three Bundesliga titles, two DFB-Pokals, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Since joining Manchester City in 2016, Guardiola has further cemented his legacy, collecting 19 trophies and transforming City into one of the most dominant teams in English football history. His haul includes six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four EFL Cups, three Community Shields, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup.

Liverpool have arrived!

Arne Slot's team are looking fresh in a very smart tracksuit that's rightly giving me Teamgeist 2006 vibes.

Manchester City arrive at the Etihad

Smiles and serious faces across the squad, who know just what a tough challenge today's opponents will be.

We've got a live poll over on Twitter

Have your say and get involved with a score prediction!

The calm before the storm...

Here's a look at the Etihad Stadium ahead of kick-off, a ground that has undergone various expansions over the years.

If you're not a regular in these parts of the world, those clouds that are present in the photos are highly unusual feature of the sky in England's north-west, where rain is as rare as hen's teeth.

Who's the ref?

Get out your Refereeing Spotters’ Guide, folks, and tick the box next to Chris Kavanagh’s name. The 40-year-old was born in Manchester and is a Premier League veteran; he has already overseen close to 20 games so far this season across England’s various competitions.

Here's the full team:

Referee: Chris Kavanagh

Assistant Referees: Dan Cook and Stuart Burt

Fourth Official: Sam Barrott

VAR: Michael Oliver

Assistant VAR: Tim Wood

How the league looks for Liverpool:

Liverpool, for their part, have very much been struggling at times this season, and sit in 6th among a host of sides on the same points.

After going through a recent period of 6 losses in 7, Arne Slot appeared to turn things around against Real Madrid in midweek, who were made to look pretty toothless by a rampant side in red. It remains to be seen if they can find that form once again today.

City look back to the win in 2023

The City official Twitter account has go fans remembering the stunning 4-1 victory City secured against Liverpool in April of 2023.

On that day, Julián Álvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jack Grealish all got their names on the scoresheet after Mohamed Salah had put the Reds 0-1 up early on.

How the table looks for the home side:

Ahead of kick-off, Manchester City sit in third place in the league after what they’d consider a stuttering start, winning just 2 of their first 5. Now, however, they’re back on track and looking as dangerous as ever, with a certain Norse God slaughtering teams on his own (more of that later).

They’re a point behind Chelsea, who won yesterday, but 7 behind Arsenal, who will need a catastrophic collapse to surrender that lead. I’m not smiling, you are.

Team news: Man City

The big news coming out of the Etihad Stadium is that midfield metronome Rodri is back and available for selection. However, we shouldn’t expect a lot from the Spaniard today, as Guardiola was keen to point out that it was “a long injury” and City “have to be careful” with his return.

Apart from that Mateo Kovacic is Manchester City’s only long-term absentee in the squad.

Team news: Liverpool

For the game today, Arne Slot is without first-choice goalkeeper Allison, who is out until after the upcoming international break. 

Jeremie Frimpong is also out of action, as he recovers from a hamstring injury. He is expected to be back some time around December.

The big news up front is that Alexander Isak is potentially fit for some action today, three weeks after going off at half-time against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League. In his place, Hugo Ekitike has proved to be a more than adequate name in the XI, but Isak’s quality is undeniable and he’ll be fighting to get some minutes in this huge match in the Premier League.

Live feed up and running...

Hello and a warm welcome from the north-west of England as we arrive at the blockbuster game of match week 11 of this fascinating Premier League season. 

Manchester City are hosts today as they welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium, and we’ve got it all live for you on AS USA.

It’s Joe on duty to guide you through the action, but first we’ve got all the build up as it happens.