The Match, The Stat: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City
So close, yet so far: Liverpool in 2025/26.
Top Five Stats
Erling Haaland’s second minute chance was worth more expected goals (0.48) than he had in total in any of his three previous league games at Anfield (0.37, 0.10, 0.19). The penalty was worth more than those matches combined.
Dominik Szoboszlai has scored or assisted four of Liverpool’s seven set play goals in the 2025/26 Premier League, nine of 15 in all competitions.
For approximately 75 minutes prior to their equaliser, City only generated 0.45 expected goals.
Liverpool have now conceded four penalties in the league this term, more than in the previous two seasons combined.
Szoboszlai became just the sixth player (seventh instance) to score and be sent off in a Premier League game for the Reds.
Match Review
A rivalry, if not wholly geographical, is defined by stakes. Relatively recent iterations of Liverpool and Manchester City are the two best teams the Premier League has ever seen. Their points totals prove as much.
The current crops are not that strong, nowhere near. Where this has been the biggest fixture of the season in the English top flight, it no longer is. Both clubs came into this match in the bottom half of the six-game form table, with one win apiece in that time.
With home advantage combined with City’s abysmal record at Anfield, Liverpool were worthy (narrow) favourites. The start of the match did not reflect that whatsoever.
It was similar to the Newcastle match last week, with the visitors dominating. The difference here was that they were also having some decent chances whereas the Magpies did not.
That said, two-thirds of the expected goals City generated in the first half came via two of their first three shots. Erling Haaland was through on goal under pressure, before Abdukodir Khusanov headed wide following a free-kick.
After 25 minutes, Liverpool had completed one final third pass. There were nine City players with more than one on their stat ledger. The Reds’ press looked more well drilled than in many games this season but with no real reward. The home side couldn’t get the ball up field nor win it back once it was there.
The Cityzens were more dominant than they were in the reverse fixture, even though they won that 3-0. In terms of shots, they overpowered Liverpool by a wider margin than any team so far this season in a first half, 10 to three. It was surprising that they only led 16-8 on touches in the opposition box prior to the interval.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been a weird outfit this year. They haven’t conceded a first half league goal in 2026 but neither did they score one in the second 45 minutes of those matches. As many would have therefore predicted, the Reds came back into the contest almost immediately after the break.
Within 15 minutes they had got the box touch count to within one. It was as if the teams had agreed to play the entire match in front of the Kop, with Liverpool consigning a disappointing first half to memory with an impressive display.
Dominik Szoboszlai continues to be Liverpool’s man of the moment. In his last seven matches he has scored four goals, assisted another two, committed an all-timer of a defensive error, missed a penalty and been sent off. Mario Balotelli should lend the Hungarian his ‘why always me?’ t-shirt.
The match went to 1-1 in the 84th minute after City had done next-to-nothing in the second half to that point. Utter frustration for Kopites yet again. It became the ninth Liverpool league game this season to become all-square in the final 15 minutes of normal time.
The Reds are now winless in the last seven, losing four. Whether they score an equaliser or concede one late on, it is not the Reds that kick on in the closing stages. The closest they came was at Elland Road, only for Szoboszlai’s lead-retaking goal in the 80th minute to be levelled from a corner in the 96th.
This record made it almost inevitable that City would get a winner, no matter how absurdly it came about. They were handed their winner on a plate, Alisson Becker again having a poor game in this fixture as he had when the Reds last lost it.
Late collapses are simply one of many issues that have dogged Liverpool all season. Mixtures of positives and negatives have been a theme of 2025/26 too. Can Arne Slot lean more towards the light for the rest of the campaign? He needs to.
Source for graphics: Sofascore, Opta Analyst.
Sigh.