Manchester City v Liverpool: Premier League – live | Premier League

52 min: Grealish wedges in cutely from the left for Gundogan, whose whipped cross from the byline is smothered by Alisson. Next goal huge here … and this game doesn’t feel like a match that’s going to end 2-1. It’s very open.

50 min: Alexander-Arnold flicks a ball down the middle and springs Gakpo clear. Gakpo spins and shoots, only to be denied first by a brilliant Ederson save, then the offside flag. A good response to City’s second from Liverpool here.

49 min: A free kick for Liverpool out on the right. Alexander-Arnold swings it in long. Van Dijk wins a header but neither Jota nor Gakpo are able to meet the dropping ball.

48 min: That was an appalling goal from a Liverpool point of view; an excellent counter from City’s. How huge does that Grealish interception from Salah look now?!

GOAL! Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool (De Bruyne 46)

46 min: Robertson dribbles hard down the left but it’s all for nought as his cross pings off Stones, back off his own leg, and out for a goal kick.

Liverpool get the second half underway. No changes.

A delay to the restart as referee Simon Hooper requires a new pea in his whistle, or something similarly technical. He’s been getting a lot of love from both sets of fans on the old social media, I see.

Here’s some amusing/outrageous footage of Pep Guardiola celebrating City’s equaliser. Kostas Tsimikas is unfortunate enough to be wandering by the technical area at the time, and Pep seems to ask him if he wants to give him five. It’s all about timing your run at this level.

Half-time entertainment. Also this week in Granadaland …

HALF TIME: Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool

45 min +1: Mahrez hits the corner long. Rodri, on the left-hand edge of the six-yard box, volleys goalwards but the ball pings off Akanji and harmlessly out for a goal kick.

45 min: De Bruyne’s persistence wins a corner off Robertson down the right. He leaves it to Mahrez to take. There will be two added minutes.

44 min: Mahrez dribbles down the right and cuts back for Gundogan, whose first-time goalwards slam is blocked brilliantly by Fabinho. City are pressing to take the lead before the break and change the dynamic of the half-time team-talks.

42 min: Elliott has an opportunity to slip Alexander-Arnold clear down the left, but opts to pass to Salah on the right instead. Everyone in the stadium, including Salah, knows he’s miles offside, but a farce is allowed to play out for a few seconds before the flag eventually goes up.

40 min: Mahrez swings the free kick in. Robertson prods it out for a corner. Before it can be taken, Akanji and Henderson collide and exchange viewpoints. The referee is forced to deliver another of his lectures. The corner comes to nothing.

39 min: Alexander-Arnold tussles with Grealish and fouls the latter. Grealish falls over. Alexander-Arnold, in the process of berating the linesman, accidentally kicks Grealish in the ear. VAR takes a look but it was clearly accidental. Not so the challenge Alexander-Arnold makes on the same player when City launch their next attack. Free kick out on the left and a chance for City to load the Liverpool box.

37 min: Alisson is forced to blooter long. Jota flicks a header towards Salah down the right. Salah races into space again … but once again doesn’t have the confidence to take a shot on himself, and the move breaks down.

35 min: Now Rodri clatters into Gakpo from behind. Liverpool want a second yellow. City don’t. A melee around the referee. No second booking, despite Henderson’s long protestations, though you suspect Rodri needs to watch his step now.

33 min: Jota spins away from Rodri, who tugs at his shirt cynically. A booking for the Spanish international, who spoke so eloquently after the Scotland game this week of his love of free-flowing football.

32 min: This game is being played at 101 miles per hour, with no real drop in quality as a result. It’s a fun watch. Perhaps more so right now for City fans: their team were very close to going two down there, but Grealish almost single-handedly turned the tide. A big couple of minutes from him, right there.

30 min: That was a lovely smooth move upfield from City. Things escalated when Gundogan, his back to goal on the edge of the Liverpool D, spun and spotted the killer ball towards Grealish, who made no mistake in teeing up Alvarez. In the stand, Haaland celebrated in the grand fashion.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool (Alvarez 28)

26 min: A City corner … from which Liverpool break at pace. Elliott plays a clever first-time rake down the left to release Salah, who having started his run from his own half, is onside! He’s clear … but loses a footrace with Grealish, who catches up, stops him shooting, then blocks the attempted cross to Jota.

25 min: Grealish looks super-lively this afternoon. He makes a nuisance of himself again down the left, combining with the omnipresent De Bruyne. Fabinho gets a toe in and shovels away from danger, but only at the expense of a throw. City are pushing Liverpool back again.

23 min: Liverpool ping a few triangles down the left, Jota and Henderson in the thick of it. The ball’s played infield for Elliott, who attempts to release Gakpo with a first-touch ping down the middle. Gakpo is free, but he knows he’s offside and doesn’t challenge Ederson. Then the flag goes up.

22 min: City soon come back at Liverpool and Mahrez races onto a pass rolled down the inside-right channel … only to blooter it wildly over the bar from the edge of the box. A good response to falling behind by the hosts.

21 min: Grealish and De Bruyne combine down the left and open Liverpool up. Gundogan tickles a cross along the front of the six-yard box, but it agonisingly rolls behind Mahrez and Alvarez and Liverpool clear their lines.

20 min: Salah is booked for hoofing the ball away in anger, the award of a throw having gone Ake’s way instead of his. The daftest of bookings.

18 min: There’s a VAR check for offside, but Akanji was playing Jota on in the middle of the park. Jota did exceptionally well to keep that move going, because when he failed to get a shot away, you suspected that was that. But his pass back to Salah was perfectly weighted, and he made sure to position his body in the way of Akanji so the City defender couldn’t block Salah’s shot.

GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Liverpool (Salah 17)

15 min: Elliott drives towards City’s box and slips Salah into space on the right. Salah shifts back infield and shoots. Blocked. Elliott tries again. Blocked. City offering no way through, Dias and Ake standing firm.

14 min: De Bruyne shapes to take the free kick, but leaves it for Mahrez, who aims a power curler towards the top left. Inches wide. Had that been on target, Alisson was rooted to the spot.

13 min: Gakpo and Henderson attempt to one-two their way upfield from the edge of their own box. They make a mess of it, and in an attempt to salvage the situation, Henderson stands on De Bruyne’s toe. A free kick just to the right of the D. Danger here!

12 min: Liverpool attempt to respond with some possession football of their own, but after Robertson and Henderson are forced to turn back from a left-wing sortie, Van Dijk plays a diagonal pass to nobody in particular, and City have their ball again.

11 min: De Bruyne and Mahrez combine well down the right. The ball’s worked infield to Rodri, who aims a rising drive towards the top left from the edge of the box. Alisson parries and claims. City are well on top now.

9 min: De Bruyne curls deep from the right. Gundogan, on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, cushions a pass across the face of goal. Alisson drops to smother just before Alvarez can slam home. City are beginning to dominate.

8 min: Grealish strides down the left and is skittled by Fabinho. The referee gives Fabinho a proper talking-to this time, and you sense the Liverpool midfielder is already in the last-chance saloon with regards to a yellow card.

6 min: De Bruyne sends a diagonal towards Mahrez on the right-hand corner of the box. He cuts back for Alvarez, who floats in an easy pick for Alisson.

5 min: Liverpool are fizzing around in the heavy-metal style. City appear in a more patient mood, a jazz odyssey. But suddenly Grealish picks up speed, cutting in from the left and drawing a foul from Fabinho. Free kick, just to the left of centre, 35 yards out.

3 min: Gakpo drives at the City box with great purpose. He slips a pass to the left for Robertson, who looks for Salah in the middle but doesn’t deliver well. A bright enough start by the visitors, though.

2 min: Grealish prepares to take a throw. Gundogan and Fabinho shove each other. Gundogan goes down claiming to have taken a deliberate one in the face. It all looked reasonably innocent, and the referee gives both players a stern talking-to.

1 min: Gakpo, pressing hard from the get-go, nearly blocks Ederson’s clearance. A slightly nervy start by the City keeper.

Manchester City get the ball rolling. The Etihad roars! I’ve just noticed the lesser-spotted Arthur Melo is on Liverpool’s bench.

The teams are out! The champions in sky blue, the visitors in red. The atmosphere crackles: na na na Hey Jude. We’ll be off in a minute or two!

The table. It’s been a while, so let’s remind ourselves of the current state of play … and why both teams, for differing reasons, really could do with the three points this lunchtime.

… and now BT collar an equally cheery Jurgen Klopp. “Darwin Nunez had a little problem … he had a cut on his foot that is really uncomfortable … he’s now back in training so that’s why we start like we start … the main thing against City is to cut off the passing options between the lines … that is a massive challenge … we have had exactly one session with all the boys together [after the internationals] … [Klopp is asked if he would describe Liverpool’s season as a rollercoaster] … actually, a rollercoaster is a nice thing! … oh God … let us talk again after! … it’s not that the boys don’t want it, it just didn’t click in some games … some things developed a bit in a negative way, when we went 1-0 down the reaction was not great … because we are Liverpool and we used to be successful, but all of a sudden we are not there … it’s a process to fight against it in a confident way … but we have had sensational games this season too … [it’s pointed out Liverpool have the best record in a mini-league containing the top six] that’s a surprise, isn’t it! … you need to win against everybody and we were good at it, but this year we were not … there is still a lot to go for, and we will still try.”

A chirpy Pep Guardiola speaks to BT Sport. “Erling Haaland is much, much better but not fully fit for today … no risk … I am fully confident … another player is going to play … during the season these kind of things happen … [if City don’t win today] I have a feeling it will be more difficult! … but if we win we will be closer … in football many things can happen … we had a feeling last season that Liverpool would not drop many points and this is a feeling we have this season with Arsenal … we have to try to win … until the last moment we have a chance, we will fight … we have tough games ahead of us, them as well, so it is step by step … to still be in contention for other competitions, this is amazing … it is not easy … it makes me so happy … let’s try it.”

Erling Haaland hasn’t recovered from the groin injury he picked up while rattling in his sixth hat-trick of the season against Burnley in the FA Cup. He’s not in the squad, and one of six changes to the Manchester City side from that match. Ederson, John Stones, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji come in; Kyle Walker, Rico Lewis, Aymeric Laporte and Stefan Ortega drop to the bench, while Phil Foden is also on the recovery table alongside Haaland.

Liverpool make two changes to the XI named for their 1-0 defeat at Real Madrid two-and-a-half weeks ago. Jordan Henderson and Harvey Ellliott are back, with James Milner and Darwin Nunez dropping to the bench.

The teams

Preamble