LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool overawed Manchester City in a 2-0 win on Sunday with goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah to take a commanding nine-point lead at the top of the Premier League and extend their arch-rivals’ slump to seven games without a win.
The result was City’s first four-game losing streak in the Premier League since 2008 and pushed Pep Guardiola’s struggling side down to an unfamiliar fifth in the table, 11 points behind their greatest rivals of recent years.
Buoyed by a midweek Champions League win over Real Madrid, Liverpool came out flying and could have wrapped the game up by halftime with a hatful of chances including two thundering Virgil van Dijk headers, one of which hit the woodwork.
The first goal came in the 12th minute after a sumptuous long pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold to Salah on the right wing. His low ball eluded Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega for Gakpo to nudge in at the back post.
Salah scored Liverpool’s second with a 78th-minute penalty, after fellow striker Luis Diaz was brought down by Ortega in the box, sending the Anfield crowd into delirium.
“It’s very special and I don’t take it for granted. It’s always special to score at Anfield and win games,” said Salah, acknowledging, however, that it could be his last game at home to City amid speculation over his con-tract renewal. — Reuters
