John Stones opened the scoring at Anfield for Man City (Photo: Getty)
Liverpool and Manchester City played out a thrilling 1-1 draw on Sunday to keep Arsenal at the top of the Premier League in the latest chapter of this sensational title race.
John Stones gave the Citizens the lead, only for Alexis Mac Allister to level the game from the penalty spot just after the break, with both teams squandering countless opportunities to win this most crucial of games.
The two sides met at Anfield knowing that victory would see them take the lead of the title race, while a draw would keep Arsenal top after their late win over Brentford on Saturday evening.
As expected, it was full throttle and end-to-end from the first whistle, with Kevin De Bruyne and Darwin Nunez enjoying the best of the early chances.
Nunez looked to have created the opening goal after breaking through City’s defence to square Luis Diaz for a tap-in, but the flag was quickly raised for a clear offside against the Uruguayan forward.
But in the end it was De Bruyne who set up the opener, with his deceptive corner-kick finding Stones who squeezed the ball in at the near-post, though credit must go to Nathan Ake whose clever blocking of Mac Allister allowed Stones the freedom to score.
Liverpool rallied however with Dominik Szoboszlai nearly finding the equaliser, heading Harvey Elliott’s cross from the right just wide of the post, before Luis Diaz fired a great effort from the edge of the area just off target.
Alexis Mac Allister equalised from the penalty spot (Photo: Getty)
City came close to getting a second before the break several times, most notably when, on the counter-attack, Erling Haaland took on Virgil van Dijk but his subsequent shot was straight at Caoimhin Kelleher.
Kyle Walker was proving to be a menace all over the pitch for the Reds and the right-back ought to have created City’s second after he won the ball in his own half before bursting into the box, only for him to inexplicably fail to find a teammate with his subsequent cross.
Those missed chances would come back to haunt the Citizens immediately after the break when they conceded a penalty after Ederson was forced to wipe out Nunez as he chased down Ake’s terrible back pass to his keeper.
Minutes are giving away the penalty, Ederson was forced off with injury (Photo: Getty)
With regular taker Mohammed Salah on the bench, Mac Allister stepped up to take the spot-kick and made no mistake, powering into the top-left corner past Ederson who had dived the correct way.
Things went from bad to worse for the Brazil keeper, who pulled up just minutes later and had to be replaced by Stefan Ortega, leaving both teams with their second-choice shotstopper in between the sticks.
The equaliser appeared to unleash a mad series of events, which started with Diaz squandering two glorious opportunities in the space of a few minutes, despite being one-on-one with Ortega in both scenarios.
Caoimhin Kelleher punched the ball into Phil Foden’s face, with the rebound hitting the crossbar (Photo: Getty)
The City No.2 was called into action on numerous occasions, saving from point-blank range after Nunez connected with Andy Robertson’s pin-point cross, and then parrying away Jarell Quansah’s effort from distance.
Up the other end, Kelleher, having brilliantly denied Phil Foden earlier in the second-half, went to punch away a teasing City cross, but instead he palmed the ball straight into the onrushing attacking midfielder, with the rebound thundering off the crossbar.
The woodwork was rattled agin in the dying minutes, courtesy of substitute Jeremy Doku who thought he had scored, but his effort instead hit the post and fell kindly back into Kelleher’s arms.
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The drama kept on coming up until the last second, with Liverpool very nearly being awarded a penalty in the 98th minute after Doku caught Mac Allister in the chest with a high boot, but after a VAR check Michael Oliver waved play on.
The result leaves Arsenal and Liverpool on 64 points, with the former ahead on goal difference, and City on 63 with just 10 games to go.
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