Manchester City managed to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool after they secured a 2-1 triumph against them at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night. The Citizens had gone into the game with a seven-point deficit over the table-toppers but they managed to produce a strong attacking performance with Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane finding the scoresheet in the first and second half respectively. Roberto Firmino bagged the sole goal for the Reds which came between both of the Citizens’ efforts.
Two things we learned:
Manchester City enhance their title defence: City had come into this game knowing that a defeat may have ended their title defence with 10 points separating them from Jurgen Klopp’s side at the summit. However, they managed to offload such a situation with a commanding attacking performance where they were able to secure the three points despite being pegged back by the Reds at the hour mark. The Mancunian giants are still four points behind the Reds at the top but the victory should give them the added motivation to put the pressure on the leaders with an extended winning streak.
Liverpool’s unbeaten Premier League run ends: The Merseyside outfit have impressed with a relatively solid defence this campaign and the midweek game against City was the first time that they had conceded twice in the top-flight which thereby ended their unbeaten streak in the league. Still, Klopp’s team had plenty of positives from the game where they could have quite easily drawn barring the stunning goal-line clearance from John Stones. It will now be interesting to see whether they can maintain the title challenge during the backend of the campaign where the pressure will be on them to pick up victories at regular intervals to ward off the competition behind them.
Image – Getty
