For an hour, Liverpool held Manchester City in a contest.
Then Ryan Gravenberch walked, City smelled blood and Anfield collapsed beneath three goals in 13 brutal minutes.
Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki struck after Liverpool were reduced to 10 men as Manchester City powered to a 3–0 Premier League victory on Sunday, preserving their perfect start to the season and handing Liverpool their first league defeat of 2026/27.
City left Anfield with six wins from six and 18 points, three clear at the top after Matchweek 6.
Liverpool were left with the harder question: how a tight afternoon unravelled almost immediately after the game tilted against them.
Gravenberch red changes everything
The first half offered intensity without a decisive breakthrough.
Liverpool began to find more attacking momentum after the interval, with Lewis Koumas testing the goalkeeper and Alexis Mac Allister threatening from distance.
City also had an opening when Antoine Semenyo released Haaland, only for the striker to lift his effort wide with Alisson Becker exposed.
Then came the rupture.
Gravenberch, already booked, stopped Doku as the Belgian tried to launch a counter-attack in the 62nd minute.
The second yellow followed.
Liverpool were down to 10.
Three minutes later, they were behind.
Doku drove into the area, the ball broke centrally and Haaland attacked the moment, firing past Alisson to put City ahead.
Liverpool had barely reset before Doku produced the second himself.
The winger moved in from the left and bent a finish beyond Alisson in the 68th minute.
The numerical advantage had become control.
Cherki completes the punishment
City did not stop at two.
Cherki added the third in the 78th minute to complete a result that moved beyond punishment and into statement territory.
The final goal came at the end of a 41-pass move involving every City player.
For Liverpool, the final score carried more weight than the opening hour suggested.
For City, that was exactly the point.
Once the game presented an opening, the visitors ripped it apart.
Doku turns the game
Haaland supplied the breakthrough, but Doku became the accelerant.
The Belgian came from the bench and immediately changed the rhythm of the match, helping create the opening goal before scoring the second himself.
He completed five dribbles in just 34 minutes, more than any other City player.
Liverpool could no longer squeeze the game into manageable spaces.
City suddenly had direct running, width and a one-man advantage against a side trying to recover its shape.
The punishment was immediate.
City leave Anfield with more than three points
A 3–0 win at Anfield would carry force in almost any season.
This one lands with City already setting the early pace.
Enzo Maresca’s side have won all six of their opening Premier League matches, scoring 16 goals and conceding five.
They sit three points clear after six games.
City also recorded a second consecutive league victory at Anfield, a sequence the club had not achieved since 1953.
That does not settle a title race in October.
It does raise the temperature.
City have started perfectly and have now taken maximum punishment from one of the league’s most difficult away grounds.
Liverpool now face the consequence
For Andoni Iraola, the defeat ended his unbeaten start as Liverpool manager in the Premier League.
The suspension consequence is immediate too.
Gravenberch will miss Liverpool’s next league game against Brentford following his dismissal.
The broader consequence is psychological.
Liverpool were not dismantled for 90 minutes.
They were dismantled after losing control of one critical moment.
That may make the defeat harder to dismiss.
For City, the opposite is true.
They did not need complete dominance from kickoff.
They waited for the game to fracture, then attacked the fracture without mercy.
At Anfield, three goals in 13 minutes were enough to turn pressure into a warning for the rest of the league.
