The opening match of week 4 in the Premier League was one that won’t be forgotten for a while: Manchester City beat Liverpool 5-0, taking full advantage of Sadio Mane getting sent off for his high boot on goalkeeper Ederson. Sergio Aguero gave the home side the lead before the sending off. Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane both scored twice after it.
As far as history goes, this is one for the record books. Manchester City haven’t beaten Liverpool by 5 goals since 1945, when they beat them in 5-0 in the North War regional league. Liverpool have lost just once by 5 goals in the Premier League era: 6-1 at Stoke at the end of the 2014-2015 season.
Kevin De Bruyne, finally deployed in a more offensive position, set up the first goal in the 24th minute to break the weak Liverpool defense. The Reds were the more dangerous side in the first half, especially through Mohamed Salah, but his misses, and Mane’s challenge on Ederson, proved to be costly.
After the sending off, De Bruyne set up Jesus for an easy header, and Liverpool seemed to be happy about going down to the half time break with only two goals to try and fight back from.
But Jurgen Klopp had no intention of fighting back. He took out Salah, Liverpool’s most dangerous player, and threw in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, which meant all surprise was gone from the side’s attack. Manchester City took full advantage to score three more goals, making it a statement win, along with a little piece of rivalry history.