Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP)

Liverpool are no longer at the top of the Premier League on the evening of the 8th day, but their draw (1-1) at Manchester City on Sunday allows them to maintain their lead over their runners-up from last season.

With 17 points, the defending champion descends to 3rd place in the standings, ahead of goal difference by Tottenham and one point by Leicester, both winners earlier in the day.

Manchester City, for its part, has only 12 points but with one game less, and must be content for the moment with an 11th place.

The draw does not really help anyone between two teams for which the stakes were asymmetrical in this match: City needed a good result not to win, while Liverpool hoped to increase their psychological ascendancy, after having outrageously dominated their rivals the season last.

The Reds have also advanced with a very conquering mentality, manifested in an impressive start to the match and by the composition of their starting XI.

While the press imagined Jürgen Klopp in the throes of headaches over who to choose between his loyal Brazilian lieutenant Roberto Firmino and his new bombshell Diogo Jota, the German solved the problem by lining up the two.

His decision to leave Firmino rather than Jota when bringing in Xherdan Shaqiri (58th) still suggests that the dynamic is favorable to the Portuguese, author of a hat-trick against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday.

With an organization oscillating between 4-4-2 and 4-2-4, and especially by completely isolating the heart of the game of their opponents, composed of Ilkay Gündogan and Rodri, the Reds outrageously dominated the first 25 minutes.

This long highlight was materialized by a penalty for a somewhat silly fault by Kyle Walker on Sadio Mané and transformed by Mohamed Salah (0-1, 13th), but the few clear actions conceded by the Citizens will remain a great satisfaction for a defensive sector which has not always been so strong.

- Almost immediate response -

By dropping one of their pivot, City ended up finding the parade to create a little verticality in their game and better exploit the far apart positioning of Raheem Sterling or Ferran Torres, while finding Kevin de Bruyne in the opposing last 35 meters .

The response was then almost immediate, the Belgian first finding Sterling at the far post, but Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson intervened brilliantly (26th).

Five minutes later, however, "KDB" found Gabriel Jesus in the box, whose first contact, intentional or not, was a directed control of the right foot behind his supporting leg that mystified Trent Alexander-Arnold, before turning around and scoring from close range (1-1, 31st).

This was Kevin de Bruyne's 7th assist in City's last four games.

He could even have been the hero of the match if he had not missed, ten minutes later, the frame on a penalty awarded, after consultation of the VAR, for a hand from Joe Gomez, an extremely rare clumsiness coming from the Belgian.

It had been more than two years since a penalty had even caught the frame in the Premier League, and it was already a shot from City against Liverpool, missed by Riyad Mahrez in the 86th minute of a 0-0 at Anfield .

The second half of the match proved to be tense and uncertain, with Liverpool still appearing to have a harder time physically finishing the match than their opponents.

It did not end without breakage on the side of the Reds since Alexander-Arnold left the field after what appears to be a muscle injury to the left calf, one more in an already private defense of Virgil van Dijk, probably for the season, and Fabinho.

© 2020 AFP