Salah seals statement win as City continue to flounder

When times have been tough in the past for Manchester City under Pep Guardiola, there has always been the sense they will pull through; it will be OK.

- David Hytner

Almost to the extent there has been little dramatic tension around them, only inevitability. Not now.

The City machine looks broken, the certainties that have driven them for so long absent, the control gone. They got exactly what they deserved on a highly charged Anfield occasion – another defeat, a sixth in seven matches in all competitions, a fourth in succession in the Premier League and it is almost impossible to see them defending their title from here.

The delirious Liverpool crowd informed Guardiola that he would be sacked in the morning, which prompted him to raise six digits in their direction, one for each of his championships in England. It was an isolated act of defiance from someone with the club's crest on his chest.

Liverpool were virtually perfect. They were everything City were not; suffocating at the back, energetic and physical, slick on the ball, menacing in front of goal. Cody Gakpo's opener was scant reward for their initial dominance but it was never going to be a day when Arne Slot's team did anything other than extend their lead over second-placed Arsenal to nine points. And put 11 points between themselves and City, who lag in fifth.

Guardiola had admitted his players were suffering, as is he, and there is no doubt that this is the biggest crisis of his City tenure. At least there is some jeopardy now. Mohamed Salah made the points safe for Liverpool, having supplied the assist for Gakpo, and there is surely no way the club can allow him to leave on a free transfer next summer.