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Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to eight points by beating Manchester City 3-1 at Anfield on Sunday.

Like many matches, this one can be boiled down to what happened with the best quality opportunities. Both teams had two clear-cut chances, with all four being headers. Where Liverpool converted theirs, the visitors put theirs off target, and that’s largely why the Reds won by two goals.

But you can rarely ignore the impact of the officials in massive matches either. Pep Guardiola was clearly displeased with the performance of Michael Oliver and his officiating team, pleading to the heavens when the second of two potential penalties was not given to his side.

With two debatable decisions such as those, your view of them will inevitably align with which team you support. However, the records show that of the eight referees who have taken charge of at least 25 Premier League games for Manchester City, Michael Oliver has awarded them a penalty most often. Those decisions didn’t go for the champions on Sunday, but it seems Oliver has treated them pretty well over the years.

'The day power shifted' - national media reacts to Liverpool's win READ HERE

For all three Liverpool goals, there were aspects of them which had been seen in similar moments in the preceding eight league games at home. In the last league match at Anfield, Tottenham took the lead early on without completing a pass in the final third, and Liverpool did likewise here.

Fabinho opened the scoring in the sixth minute, with a thunderbolt from distance. It was his first goal from outside the box in any league or European competition. With ability like that, it won’t be the last.

With their second shot of the match, Liverpool doubled their advantage. It took the Reds until their 12th shot against City last season to get on the scoresheet, yet here they were with two from two in 2019/20.

It was significant in another way too. It was the first clear-cut chance Liverpool have had in a league game against Pep’s City side at Anfield (though they did have two in the Champions League clash in 2018), in the fourth such match.

This time the echo went back to the 3-1 win over Arsenal in August. In that match, Andy Robertson sent in a cross at the Anfield Road end against one of the big six clubs, but Mohamed Salah headed it over the bar. This time the Egyptian’s effort was perfect, heading back across goal and past Claudio Bravo. It was only Salah’s third headed goal for Liverpool, and the first since a home match with Bournemouth in April 2018.

City might have been expected to dominate the rest of the first half, but it didn’t really happen, as both sides had six shots with two on target between Salah’s strike and the break. Liverpool had seven shots in each of their league encounters with the Citizens last season, yet had topped that by half time on this occasion.

Having scored in the sixth minute of the first half, the Reds did likewise in the second. For the third time in the last nine league matches at Anfield, Jordan Henderson assisted Sadio Mané for a goal at the Kop end, with the Senegalese forward scoring with his head each time.

City can now be added to Huddersfield and Chelsea as teams in blue who have fallen foul of this combination. It’s also worth noting that the Henderson/Mane partnership generated a headed clear-cut chance at Villa Park last weekend too, so perhaps should be one to watch going forward.

As with the first half, City didn’t particularly dominate the match following the goal. In the 27 minutes between Liverpool’s third and the visitors’ first and only goal, the Reds had 52% of the possession while City lead the shot count five to three.

Once they had cut the deficit to two goals, City then had 81% of the possession up until full time. Aside from a header by Kyle Walker, though, they were unable to create little of note. Liverpool defended superbly in the second half, blocking six of the champions’ nine shots including five of the first six. There was a red wall City really struggled to breach.

That was reflected in the passing stats for the whole match. The visitors completed 129 passes in the final third, compared to just 49 for Liverpool. However, when looking at passes and crosses completed in the opposition penalty box, the figures were 14 apiece.

City had the Reds penned in at times, but while also being rarely able to find a way through. Liverpool were clinical in attack and resilient in defence, and when that’s the case, it’s too much for any team, even the two-time defending champions.

In each of the last two campaigns, Manchester City have won 32 league matches. To do so again, they will need to be victorious in 24 of their remaining 26 games. As this was their first fixture against one of the current top seven while Liverpool have faced all of the other six teams, things are looking very good for Jürgen Klopp and his men as they head into the international break.