Premier League: Liverpool beats Man City 2-0

By  JAMES ROBSON, December 2 — Liverpool is in control of the Premier League title race. Manchester City is in free fall.

A 2-0 win against City on Sunday moved Liverpool nine points clear at the top of the standings and 11 ahead of Pep Guardiola’s four-time defending champion.

Goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah exposed the gap between the title rivals and emphasized the deepening crisis for Guardiola, whose serial title winners languish fifth in the standings.

“We weren’t perfect, but we came close to perfection and that’s the only way you can beat a quality team like City,” Liverpool head coach Arne Slot said.

It’s now seven games without a win for City in all competitions, including six losses during that run.

The latest defeat at Anfield could have been even more emphatic, with Virgil van Dijk hitting the post and Salah missing the target when through on goal in a game which Liverpool totally dominated.

The home crowd mocked Guardiola, chanting he would be fired in the morning. With his team unable to respond, it was left to him to hold up six fingers in reference to the six league titles he has won in seven years during a period of unprecedented domestic dominance.

 “Maybe they’re right, that I must be sacked (fired) for the results we have, but I didn’t expect (that) in Anfield,” Guardiola said. “It’s fine. It’s part of the game. I understand completely and accept it. We had incredible, incredible battles together.”

City’s dominance looks increasingly likely to come to an end this season, with Guardiola enduring the worst losing streak of his managerial career and Liverpool looking a potential champion after such an impressive start under Slot.

It’s 11 wins from 13 games in the league for Slot, whose team also leads the Champions League standings.

Victory against City came days after beating European champion Real Madrid by the same score line and having already seen off German champion Bayer Leverkusen 4-0.

“I don’t think anyone including me would have predicted this,” Slot said of his team’s start to the campaign.

In contrast, City’s players look bereft of confidence, having thrown away a three-goal lead against Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday, just days after being thrashed 4-0 by Tottenham.

Guardiola’s team could have been behind even before Gakpo’s opener in the 12th minute, following a wonderful threaded cross by Salah. And Liverpool should have wrapped up the game long before Salah eventually converted a penalty in the 78th when City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega brought down Luis Diaz in the box.

Guardiola has now lost four straight league games for the first time as a manager, Premier League stat supplier Opta said. The last time City lost four in a row in the league was 2008, Opta said.