Man City are new faves after dumping title-holders Liverpool
Liverpool will not be winning backto-back Carabao Cups after Manchester City sent them home on Thursday with a dramatic 3-2 fourth round win for City at the Etihad. Man City advance to the quarterfinals, with the draw to learn their opponent taking place shortly after the match.
Goals from Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez were cancelled out by equalisers from Fabio Carvalho and Mohamed Salah respectively before Nathan Ake sealed victory for City with a 58th-minute header.
Rapid reaction 1. City chasing Liverpool’s record after dumping holders from Cup competition
Manchester City can equal Liverpool’s record of nine EFL Cup wins this season after eliminating last season’s winners from the competition.
With London giants Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham already out of the competition, the biggest threat to City winning the Carabao Cup once again appears to come from either Manchester United or Newcastle as the cup enters the quarterfinal stage.
But no matter who City must overcome if they are to win the cup at Wembley next February, manager Pep Guardiola and his men are clear favourites to extend their domination of the competition.
City have won five of the past seven Carabao Cups, with only Liverpool last season and United, in 2017, able to wrestle the cup from City’s clutches.
Since Guardiola took charge of City in the summer of 2016, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has guided the club to nine major trophies, including a domestic treble in 2018-19.
So the challenge facing the remaining clubs is obvious -- they have to find a way of beating City.
Having not played since mid-November due to the World Cup shutdown, City’s performance against Liverpool was ominous.
They have such depth and experience, plus the goals of Haaland, that they already look unstoppable.
And with the FA Cup due to start in
January, how long before we start talking about City chasing a quadruple again? It’s almost guaranteed.
2. After missing World Cup, Haaland and Salah are back in business
Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah were two of the biggest absentees from Qatar 2022, with both Norway and Egypt failing to qualify for the World Cup.
But after six weeks spent on the sidelines resting up, both strikers got straight back to the business of scoring goals in this tie.
Haaland scored his 24th goal of the season when he escaped marker Joe Gomez to volley Kevin De Bruyne’s cross into the net on 11 minutes, but the former Borussia Dortmund forward could - and should - have scored after just 25 seconds when he tried an audacious shot from long range.
Moments later, Haaland burst into the
Liverpool penalty area and unselfishly squared the ball to Cole Palmer when he could have shot at goal himself.
It was a breathtaking start by the 22-year-old, who looked as though he had been desperate to get back on the pitch after spending too long watching the rest of the world’s top players perform in Qatar.
Salah took longer to get going, but he still got his name on the scoresheet early in the second half when he scored from 12 yards after being teed up by Darwin Nunez.
Salah is different kind of forward to Haaland - more style and silk than Haaland’s sheer power - but the two of them are undoubtedly the best two strikers in the Premier League.
After one game back, they are already both up and running in terms of goals, and it’s clear there will be plenty more to come this season.