This was City’s first match since being found guilty of breaching the majority of the Premier League’s financial rules, and Liverpool’s fans certainly weren’t shy in voicing their displeasure at the alleged actions of their rivals from down the East Lancs Road.
With the Kop unfurling a banner reading "a generation of supporters cheated", there was an unquestionable element of hostility in the air. Perhaps buoyed on by that perceived injustice, Andoni Iraola’s side were keen to seize the initiative, but chances for either side were at a premium in the opening 30 minutes.
Alexis Mac Allister looked to break the deadlock in emphatic fashion with an overhead kick, while Gianluigi Donnarumma comfortably denied Victor Munoz from distance.
City were slow out of the traps in a game that lacked a genuine tempo, as Enzo Fernandez’s long-range shot was comfortably gathered by Alisson. Their attacking ineptitude was summed up when Rayan Cherki fired well wide after being played through down the right, in a first half that failed to live up to the pre-match hype.
The Reds began the second half with impressive intensity, creating three chances inside the opening five minutes after the restart. Donnarumma was twice called into action to parry away efforts from Lewis Koumas and Ryan Gravenberch, before Mac Allister flashed a strike just past the post.
Erling Haaland barely had a sniff of a chance down the other end, but the prolific Norwegian spurned a golden opportunity to fire the visitors ahead when he fired wide from Antoine Semenyo’s through ball.
The contest was simmering nicely, but Liverpool were dealt a huge blow when the impressive Gravenberch was shown a harsh second yellow card following a collision with Jeremy Doku.
That sparked a further downturn in Liverpool’s fortunes on the pitch, as Doku’s deflected cross found its way to Haaland, who fired home a clinical first-time finish past Alisson.
Doku then doubled City’s lead by cutting inside from the left and unleashing a wonderful right-footed strike into the top corner, in what had been a chastening six-minute spell for Liverpool since the red card.
Cherki then added a sublime third in the 78th minute, which was arguably the best of the lot, as the Frenchman coolly slotted home past Alisson following some wonderful interplay involving Elliot Anderson and Josko Gvardiol.
It capped off a superb afternoon’s work at the end of a crushing period for Man City, but whatever happens, there can be no doubting the quality at their disposal.
Meanwhile, this result consigns Iraola to a first defeat in charge of Liverpool, in what is only the third occasion this century that the Reds have failed to win any of their first three home league games of the season.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Rayan Cherki (Manchester City)