Late Alexander Arnold stunner gives Arsenal title boost as Liverpool and Manchester City share spoils

Manchester City and Liverpool had to settle for a 1-1 draw after an exciting game at the Etihad Stadium ended in a stalemate thanks to a late goal from Liverpool defender Trent Alexander Arnold.

Manchester City took the lead when Erling Haaland scored midway through the first half with a sumptuous finish, but his goal was cancelled out by a late goal from Liverpool defender Alexander Arnold.

Neither side was able to find a winner despite a host of missed chances and Manchester City would feel the most hard-done-by after drawing a second consecutive Premier League match and failing to win at home for the first time in 24 attempts.

Manchester City had the first real chance to break the deadlock after Alisson showed glimpses of things to come with an error but did well to recover and save from Phil Foden.

The other Brazilian goalkeeper on display, Manchester City’s Ederson, was also forced into a superb save from a powerful Darwin Nunez header to keep the score at 0-0.

After a topsy-turvy start to the game, Manchester City enjoyed a period of sustained pressure and took the lead through Haaland after defender Nathan Ake took advantage of an error from Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson to set up the Norwegian for his 14th goal of the season.

The goal for Manchester City spurred Liverpool into action, but it was Manchester City who almost doubled their lead soon after their first goal, as Foden took advantage of the space left by a marauding Liverpool side and narrowly missed the bottom corner of Alisson’s goal with a fierce shot from outside the area.

Liverpool almost stole an equaliser at the end of the first half as Diogo Jota came agonisingly close to connecting with a whipped cross across the face of goal that left Ederson stranded.

Julian Alvarez had the chance to give Manchester City a cushion early in the second half, as the Argentine blazed a golden opportunity over the bar after some stellar work by Jeremy Doku.

Manchester City thought they had finally doubled their lead after Ruben Dias bundled home a fumbled cross from Alisson, but the goal was ruled out for a foul by Manuel Akanji on the Liverpool goalkeeper.

Manchester City went close to a second goal late on as Alisson saved a shot from point-blank range by Haaland, and immediately down the other end, the Cityzens paid for Haaland’s miss when Alexander Arnold showed great footwork on the edge of the area to beat Ederson with a low shot in the 80th minute of the match.

Manchester City applied late pressure to try and reclaim their lead and were nearly fortunate with a late Haaland effort, but could only watch the ball trickle out of play after going across the face of goal.