Haaland Keeps Man City In Title Race With Liverpool

(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

Manchester City kept their Premier League title hopes alive with a late 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday evening.

Premier League

Result: Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City

Date: 08 February 2026

Venue: Anfield

The Reds were unchanged from the big win over Newcastle United, while Pep Guardiola decided start both Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush in the City attack, while Phil Foden was once again left on the bench.

Pep Guardiola’s charges knew that only three points would suffice on the day as they came into the clash nine points behind the Gunners, who defeated Sunderland on Saturday.

The game got off to a lively start with Marmoush causing a bit of problems with his pace and movement around the final third, while Erling Haaland was denied by a big save by Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker inside the opening ten minutes.

Liverpool, meanwhile, struggled to carve out any serious openings in the first half as top scorer Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah have all been kept at by the City defenders.

The Reds came out firing in the second period and they should have gone ahead ten minutes after the break when Salah did well to pick out the run of Ekitike, who sent his header wide of the target with only goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma to beat from six yards out.

The home side eventually broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute when Dominik Szoboszlai found the back of the net with a superb powerful free-kick that left Donnarumma flat-footed on the goal-line.

Man City levelled maters with six minutes left on the clock as Haaland nodded the ball into the path of Bernardo Silva, who finished past Alisson with a first-time finish in the six-yard area.

The visitors were then awarded a penalty in the 90th minute when Alisson was deemed to have brought down Matheus Nunes in the box. Haaland stepped up and calmly slotted past the Reds goalkeeper to secure the win.

There was enough time for City to grab a third goal when Rayan Cherki scored from inside his own half with Alisson having pushed up for a corner. However, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) stepped in to rule the goal out for Haaland’s foul, while Szoboszlai was sent off for pulling Haaland down before the ball had went in.

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