Manchester City produced a statement 3-0 victory over Liverpool at Anfield, with goals from Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki silencing the home crowd and underlining their determination to carry on as normal amid ongoing Premier League charges.
The breakthrough came in the 58th minute when Florian Wirtz stood over a free-kick on the edge of the box, with Liverpool having already tested Gianluigi Donnarumma in the minutes before. Nico O'Reilly was booked as the Anfield crowd roared 'Allez, Allez, Allez' for the first time that afternoon.
Turning Point and Second Yellow
Four minutes later, Ryan Gravenberch fouled Jeremy Doku and was shown a second yellow card. Two minutes after that, Doku created enough havoc in the box for Erling Haaland to hammer home the opening goal, and three minutes later the winger made it 2-0 with a curling effort past Alisson.
Anfield fell silent as Liverpool were reduced to 'training cones', with the away supporters crying 'Ole' with every City touch and waving inflatable bananas with even more gusto. The Premier League can wipe City players from social media videos, but they cannot disguise the fact that Enzo Maresca's side sit top of the current table.
City Show No Distraction
Nor are City hiding. CEO Ferran Soriano took his seat in the Anfield directors' box and watched as Rayan Cherki sent former City academy player Jeremie Frimpong flying to the turf and fired a third goal past Alisson.
Having sung about Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Sheikh Mansour, City fans spent the day sticking two fingers up to the Premier League. In beating one of their supposed rivals, the players made a mockery of the idea that they would crumble or be distracted by events that have shaken plenty inside the club over the last two weeks.
Subdued Atmosphere and Context
Given the City team bus crept into Anfield via a different route while a thousand Liverpool fans waited for it elsewhere, and neither set of supporters had crossed lines beforehand, for all the hype this game was well below expectations. The whistles and boos from the home fans were still notable, but not enough for the banana-wielding Blues not to ask where the famous atmosphere was and if this was in fact the Etihad.
This, perhaps, is what should be expected until sanctions are delivered or a final outcome is published. As angry as opposition fans may be, attention during the 90 minutes is still drawn to what is happening on the pitch.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been a good time to come to Anfield with several key first-teamers injured and young Lewis Koumas handed his first Premier League start in attack. This team have had a sticky start under Andoni Iraola and struggled to give the Kop much to cheer about in a first half that Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez began to dominate.
Despite a bright start to the second half for Liverpool, so it proved. City are determined to act as if, to quote the chairman, 'nothing has changed', and events on the pitch played out as if there had been no news over the international break.
There were cries of 'Cheats' every time City touched the ball in the final minutes and a chorus of 'Going Down' at the final whistle, but for now at least some of the Premier League are powerless to stop this side. And as much as Richard Masters won't admit it, the bizarre spectacle now playing out in a competition that may be decided by points deductions feels more watchable than ever.
