Five things you missed in Liverpool vs Man City as Salah DOMINATES and injury fears intensify

Liverpool dominated Pep Guardiola's Man City on Sunday, blowing their title rivals away in a confident performance that cements them as favourites to win the league this season.

This was a City side which has been in horrendous form in recent weeks, with this being their 6th defeat in their last 7 games.

READ MORE: Liverpool vs Man City player ratings

Arne Slot’s Reds, on the other hand, are on absolute fire. Nine points clear of Arsenal and Chelsea, eleven clear of Man City, top of the Champions League group stage - it's all going so well.

Mohamed Salah was again in flying form, setting up Cody Gakpo's opener and redeeming the midweek penalty miss against Real Madrid. Liverpool also showed that they are much more of a team than City, who have relied on Haaland and the now absent Rodri so far this year.

Salah’s pre-match meditation pays off

Salah was spotted in the tunnel before the game sitting down in extreme concentration. Daniel Sturridge explained that it’s something he does often, to visualise what he’s going to do ahead of time.

And it’s safe to say it paid off for Salah, who assisted the opening goal with an incredible pass through the eye of a needle to the backpost, where Gakpo was waiting to tap the ball in.

It marked Salah’s 300th goal contribution in European football - a feat matched by only 17 other players this century. Record-breaker.

City are a one-man team

Pep Guardiola is known for developing some of the best sides football has ever seen, from Barcelona to Bayern Munich and now at City, he’s had some excellent teams - emphasis on ‘team’.

Yes, Guardiola had Messi at Barcelona, but he also had Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Dani Alves and a host of world class players.

His Manchester City sides have been the same, with Kevin de Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Rodri and others forming great teams over the past decade.

However, it’s clear now that City are a one-man team, or at least a two-man team. Much has been made of Rodri’s absence through injury this season, but another stat shows their reliance on Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian was the only member of City’s starting lineup to score a goal this season, which goes a long way to showing why they are struggling. Liverpool, on the other hand, are getting goals from a number of places.

Liverpool’s academy influence

Liverpool’s track record of bringing through young player has been great in recent years.

Trent Alexander-Arnold and Caoimhin Kelleher both started the game having come through the academy, but it was on the bench that Academy Director’s influence could be seen the most.

Seven of Slot’s nine-man-bench have played for the Academy during their careers.

All of Viteslav Jaros, Harvey Davies, Jarrell Quansah, Curtis Jones, Tyler Morton, Trey Nyoni and Harvey Elliott can be considered academy products.

Fans join forces in ticket prices protest

Fans across the Premier League were protesting against rising ticket prices today.

19 of the 20 Premier League sides raised their ticket prices this season, and fans have had enough. Large groups of fans were seen outside Old Trafford ahead of Manchester United vs Everton, and at Anfield before the Man City game.

A large banner saying #StopExploitingLoyalty was also held up between the home and away fans in the Anfield Road end before the game.

Konate and Tsimikas spotted on crutches

Both Ibou Konate and Kostas Tsimikas were pictured on crutches ahead of the big game. Liverpool have been managing a number of injury issues so far this season, with Conor Bradley, Konate and Tsimikas joining Alisson, Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott as players who have missed a number of games.

The sight of two of Slot's defenders on crutches is not a pretty one for fans, especially coming into this busy Christmas period of games where rotation can be key to maintaining momentum.