Liverpool Edges Closer to Title with Victory Over Manchester City at Their Stadium
Liverpool took a significant step toward reclaiming the English Premier League title after securing a 2-0 victory over reigning four-time champions Manchester City in the highlight fixture of Match week 26.
This win marked Liverpool’s first triumph at the Etihad Stadium since 2015. Additionally, they managed to complete a league double over City for only the third time since the Premier League’s inception in the 1992-93 season.
With 11 league matches remaining—seven of which will be played at Anfield—Liverpool’s chances of securing their 20th league title and equaling Manchester United’s record are stronger than ever.
Meanwhile, Manchester City endured a nightmare week, having also been eliminated from the UEFA Champions League by Real Madrid. They remain in fourth place with 44 points, ahead of Newcastle on goal difference and just one point above both Bournemouth and Chelsea.
As usual, Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah delivered a standout performance, opening the scoring in the 14th minute before setting up Hungarian midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai for the second goal in the 37th minute. With this victory, Liverpool now has 64 points, holding an 11-point lead over Arsenal, who suffered a shock 1-0 home defeat to West Ham on Saturday. However, Arsenal still have a game in hand.
After the match, Salah expressed his delight: “Winning here is special. This team has won the league for the past four years, so it’s tough to beat them at home.” He added, “We need to stay calm in the upcoming matches. We are determined to win the title and hope to achieve our goal.”
City, on the other hand, missed the presence of their Norwegian goal machine, Erling Haaland, who was sidelined after picking up an injury in last week’s clash against Newcastle. He remained on the bench in their Champions League tie against Real Madrid but did not feature.
As a result, City relied on their January signing, Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush, who joined from Eintracht Frankfurt. Marmoush had shone in his last Premier League outing, netting a hat-trick against Newcastle.
City started the game well, but Liverpool struck first. From a short corner, Argentine Alexis Mac Allister played the ball to Szoboszlai, who then teed up Salah. The Egyptian’s left-footed shot took a deflection off Dutch defender Nathan Aké, deceiving Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson in the 14th minute. This marked Salah’s 25th league goal of the season, cementing his position as the league’s top scorer and taking his tally across all competitions to 30 goals. The “Pharaoh” is now closing in on his personal record of 32 goals in a single Premier League season, set during the 2017-18 campaign.
Salah later returned the favor to Szoboszlai, who slotted a low shot into the net, leaving Ederson rooted to the spot in the 37th minute.
With this remarkable form, Salah became the first player to contribute to 41 goals in a single Premier League season after just 27 matches. He is also the only player to have directly contributed to at least 40 goals in multiple seasons, having previously done so in 2017-18.
In another thrilling encounter, Newcastle fired four goals in just 11 first-half minutes to claim a dramatic 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest.
The result lifted Newcastle to fourth place with 44 points, capitalizing on Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa and Bournemouth’s 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton. Newcastle now sit one point ahead of both teams. Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest remains in third place with 47 points.
