Manchester City recorded an emphatic 3-0 win over Liverpool on Sunday, with Erling Haaland (£14.8m), Nico Gonzalez (£5.9m) and Jeremy Doku (£6.4m) on the scoresheet.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad Stadium.
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DOKU “OUTSTANDING”
Jeremy Doku was Manchester City’s standout performer on Sunday, creating chaos down Liverpool’s right flank.
The Belgian fully deserved his second-half goal, whipping his effort into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Connecting beautifully with City’s other attackers in a part winger/part central role, he also won the penalty which Haaland failed to convert and completed seven of his eight take-ons.
“Of course, the threat of Jeremy was outstanding alongside Erling [Haaland]. One of the best by far, for influence. Their right back Conor [Bradley] is so quick, I saw his game against Vinicius Junior. We made a really good game.” – Pep Guardiola on Jeremy Doku
Doku has certainly brought more consistency to his game this season, although it is important to note that Sunday’s strike was his first league goal since January.
Man City played some really good football in this match, and they could and probably should have won by a greater margin.
Haaland opened the scoring, shortly after having a penalty saved by spot-kick specialist Giorgi Mamardashvili (£4.3m), before Gonzalez added a second and Doku wrapped it up with the third.
That’s 99 Premier League goals for Haaland, by the way, with a trip to Newcastle United up next after the international break.
FULL-BACKS IMPRESS/WHY CHERKI WAS SUBBED EARLY
Matheus Nunes (£5.3m) and Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) each provided assists on Sunday, whilst also banking defensive contribution (DefCon) points.
Nunes has now completed 90 minutes in six successive league matches, while O’Reilly has started seven of the last eight.
The only one he missed, City lost 1-0 against Aston Villa.
You can never be completely confident, especially with players like Rayan Ait-Nouri (£5.8m), Nathan Ake (£5.3m), Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.4m) and Rico Lewis (£4.8m) in the mix, but we are at least starting to see a degree of consistency in Pep Guardiola’s selection of full-backs.
O’Reilly in particular was superb against Mohamed Salah (£14.2m), and has now produced an attacking return in each of his last three City starts.
“Nico O’Reilly was amazing. In general, everyone was extraordinary because they are still the champions. Sometimes we put a full-back inside, sometimes he has been 10 or eight. He can play. His presence in set-pieces in the long balls is fast. He is clever – he plays really good. I think he was really good, he has been doing really good.” – Pep Guardiola on Nico O’Reilly
City were unchanged from their last Premier League match against Bournemouth, with Rayan Cherki (£6.3m) starting his second league match in a row and Tijjani Reijnders (£5.5m) once again benched.
Cherki lasted just 52 minutes, however, with Reijnders an unused substitute.
“It was more difficult for Rayan because the space was more on the left side not on the right side today for the way they defended.” – Pep Guardiola on Rayan Cherki
SZOBOSZLAI ONE BOOKING AWAY FROM A BAN
Liverpool were not at the races on Sunday, raising more questions than answers ahead of their Gameweek 12 fixture swing.
To further complicate matters, Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.6m) – the sixth-most-bought midfielder of Gameweek 12 – and Conor Bradley (£5.0m) both picked up their fourth bookings of the season.
They are now one yellow card away from a one-match ban.
Liverpool were unchanged from their impressive midweek victory over Real Madrid, which meant Florian Wirtz (£8.0m) kept his place ahead of Cody Gakpo (£7.5m) on the left wing.
Hugo Ekitike (£8.6m) also continued up top, with Alexander Isak (£10.4m) not ready to start.
“For me, he is in the end stage of his rehab. Had two training sessions with us. Yes, we have trained, but not with the intensity that would have been best for Alex. He is there if he needs to help us.” – Arne Slot on Alexander Isak
However, Ekitike was barely involved, failing to register a single shot on goal, and was taken off in the 55th minute.
Gakpo, who replaced him, squandered Liverpool’s best chance, while Szoboszlai’s thumping drive was palmed away by Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.7m).
As for Salah, he would have claimed the assist for Virgil van Dijk’s (£5.9m) goal if it hadn’t been harshly ruled out. He also produced three shots, lifting a big chance just a fraction wide of the post.
Overall, however, this was an underwhelming display.
