Player Ratings: Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool (Premier League)

In their first game back from the international break, Manchester City ran out 4-1 winners against Liverpool in a must-win league meeting at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Following a bright start from the Blues, the visitors took the lead against the run of play. Diogo Jota found a vast gap through the middle of City’s defence, held the ball up and set up Mohamed Salah – whose first-time effort bludged past Ederson into the top corner for his first away Premier League goal since Boxing Day 2022.

In a thrilling turn of events, City grabbed the much-deserved equaliser through Julian Alvarez, who finished off a wonderful team move that began with Riyad Mahrez expertly driving past Virgil Van Dijk before setting Ilkay Gundogan with a slick pass.

The German then, on the spin, played an inviting ball through to Jack Grealish, who unselfishly squared the ball back across the goal for Alvarez to tap into the net.

Moments after referee Simon Hooper decided to come back out for half-time, Pep Guardiola’s side took the lead. Alvarez launched a delicous ball over Andy Robertson towards Mahrez, who in typical fashion brought it down beautifully, squared the ball across the face of goal towards Kevin De Bruyne, who slammed his effort past Alisson to give City a 2-1 lead.

Just seven minutes later, Ilkay Gundogan gave the Premier League champions breathing space when he calmly converted from close-range after Alvarez’s blocked attempt. City then grabbed a fourth when Grealish combined with De Bruyne, with the former poking his effort into the bottom corner.

Here’s how we rated the Manchester City players from a crucial triumph at home:

Ederson – 6

Left hopeless for the goal, Ederson had limit/nothing to do today – although there were a few unusual nervy moments, distribution-wise.

John Stones – 8

Brilliant. Just brilliant. After a week in which he described Manchester as his ‘home’ and expressed his love for the club and city, Stones put in a classy shift in a typically versatile defensive role.

Manuel Akanji – 6.5

Probably the least impressive of a good bunch today, Akanji wasn’t poor but did fail to step out to play Jota offside in Liverpool’s opener.

Ruben Dias – 7

A solid performance by Dias this afternoon, made a string of crucial blocks and helped build up play from the back alongside Stones.

Nathan Ake – 7.5

Similar to Dias, Ake wasn’t sensational today but then again, he didn’t need to be. The Dutchman did a decent job at locking up Salah too, for the most-part.

Rodri – 7.5

A typical composed, calm and controlled performance from the Spaniard again today. He was swapped for Bernardo Silva with just eight minutes to go.

Kevin De Bruyne – 8.5

A goal and an assist. De Bruyne was superb today with his goal coming at the perfect time and setting the tone perfectly for one of the best 45 minutes of football City have played under Pep Guardiola. More of the same for the remainder of the season please, Kev.

Ilkay Gundogan – 7.5

After a rather quiet first half, Gundogan’s goal gave City daylight at a crucial point in the tie too. The German gets a bonus point for the composure on show.

Riyad Mahrez – 8.5

A great display from the Algerian today. Mahrez just seemed to flow so well through the game and had Robertson on strings all afternoon. He was perhaps unlucky not to grab himself a goal too, coming close with a free-kick at 0-0.

Julian Alvarez – 8.5

The scorer of City’s first goal, Alavrez was impressive all afternoon and played a major part in all of City’s first three goals. The 23-year-old World Cup winner once again proved a more than capable Erling Haaland replacement.

Jack Grealish – 9

Yet another spectacular showing from Grealish today. Everything that City did well seemed to come through him. His interception deep into his half when City were looking like conceding a second also proved to be just as valuable as his goal at the other end.

It’s about time the footballing fandom starts to appreciate what a player he is. He was replaced by Cole Palmer in the 88th minute.

Substitutes:

Bernardo Silva: N/A

Cole Palmer: N/A