Manchester City’s hopes of an ‘Invincible’ season came to a crashing halt at Anfield on Sunday, with the runaway league leaders beaten 4-3 by Liverpool.
The Reds, freshly shorn of Philippe Coutinho, produced a superb attacking display and took the lead after just nine minutes, with a revitalised Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain firing home a thunderous effort.
Leroy Sané leveled the scores before the break thanks to a concoction of poor defending from Joe Gomez and weak goalkeeping from Loris Karius, who was beaten at his near post.
The second half saw Liverpool produce a potent eight minute spell during which they raced into a shock 4-1 lead.
Roberto Firmino netted the first of those three goals, netting on 59 minutes after more weak City defending, this time from John Stones.
Two minutes later, Sadio Mané, after already hitting the frame of the goal, produced a superb finish to make it 3-1 to the host, albeit after yet more flimsy play at the back from Pep Guardiola’s troops.
City’s defensive woes on the day continued, with a feeble Ederson clearance allowing Mohamed Salah in to put the Merseysiders 4-1 up.
The contest looked to be over, with Liverpool’s quickfire attack proving too much for a shell-shocked City side.
However, there was still more drama to come, with Bernardo Silva ramming one back for the visitors on 84 minutes.
Another City goal would follow, with Ilkay Gundogan poking a shot past Karius in injury time to set up a nervous last few minutes for the home fans.
Liverpool held on to register a deserved 4-3 win, a result which sees Pep Guardiola’s side lose for the first time in the league this season and for the first time since April (22 matches ago).
Although, while the defeat will undoubtedly sting for a perfectionist like Pep, the title is still well and truly his side’s to lose.
After all, they’re still 15 whole points clear with half the season gone.
As for the Reds, the post-Coutinho era looks bright, with Jurgen Klopp and co. ascending into joint-third place.