Prior to kick-off, the City manager will have been aware that he'd only ever won once at Anfield with his current employers, and that victory came when no fans were allowed in stadiums during the Covid epidemic.
Mutual respect
In a sign of the respect between the two teams, Arne Slot had named an unchanged XI from the Reds' previous game, whilst Guardiola had only replaced Rayan Cherki with Omar Marmoush.
On both previous occasions in the league at home under Slot when he had gone with an unchanged XI - 0-1 v Nottingham Forest in September 2024 and 1-2 v Manchester United in October 2025 - Liverpool had lost.
Mo Salah was making his 286th Premier League start for the hosts, which edged him ahead of Pepe Reina in the club's all-time appearance list, whilst Bernardo Silva's 16th Premier League appearance against Liverpool (and ninth at Anfield) were both the most by a Manchester City player.
With 20 goals prior to kick-off, Erling Haaland was streaking ahead in the race for this season's Premier League top-scorer award, and within two minutes, the Norwegian had already had the game's first shot on target. What was his 88th shot at goal in the league this season was another high point to which others can only aspire.
Only one team in it
By the 11th minute, City had taken two more shots at goal, whilst Salah had recorded just one touch of the ball in that time - the joint-fewest alongside Haaland, though the latter's was at least that shot on target.
There was really only one team in it in the opening stages, as by the 20-minute mark Liverpool had completed just 45 passes, the fewest in a game at Anfield since February 2014 (43 vs Arsenal).
In terms of distribution, the hosts were sorely lacking throughout, and many of their initial problems in trying to gain a foothold could be pinpointed to a lack of accuracy from the back, where Virgil van Dijk in particular wasn't having his best evening's work.
Indeed, his 64.4% completion rate was one of the worst on show, and more than encouraged a hungry City side to remain on the front foot.
Targeting the Dutchman seems to be something that many opposition teams have tried of late, too, and, though you'd be hard pressed to have anyone inside Anfield admit it, Van Dijk has certainly become a weaker link more recently.
Szoboszlai ready for war
At least in Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool had a player ready to go to war with City, with the Hungarian winning six one-on-one duels in the opening half hour, three times the amount of any other player on the field.
He would go on to have a say in proceedings later in the game, and his 114 touches across the 90+ minutes were at least 42 more than any of his teammates.
Not to mention he would also win back possession on eight separate occasions - no player on either side matched that output - and no Liverpool player had more than his two shots on target.
Only City's Marc Guehi matched Szoboszlai's 12 final third entries too, suggesting an all-round performance of the highest quality from the midfielder.
A marked difference after half-time
At half-time, the difference in quality was astonishing. Liverpool hadn't managed a single shot on target, whilst their visitors had attempted their most shots (10) in the first half of a match at Anfield since Opta records began (2003/04).
The Reds must've clearly paid attention to the rocket likely delivered to them by Slot during the break, as 11 minutes into the second half, they'd already had more shots (four) than in the entirety of the first 45 minutes (three).
A feeling of the game belatedly becoming much more of a contest filled the air, and the locals responded with the decibel levels rising.
By the hour mark, it was Liverpool that had seen 72% possession of the ball after half-time, though they'd not yet converted that dominance into goals.
The midfield battle began to heat up, with Szoboszlai again at the forefront for the hosts. His link-up play with Florian Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch was beginning to pay dividends, though the passing between Bernardo Silva and Matheus Nunes helped keep their side ticking over if it looked like Liverpool were starting to overrun them.
Stunning opener
When the opening goal eventually came, it was a thing of beauty.
Awarded a free-kick about 10 yards outside the City box, the visitors can't say they weren't warned as Szoboszlai shaped up to strike the ball. He'd scored a special free-kick from a similar position against Arsenal earlier in the season, but this was even better.
Despite being central to Gianluigi Donnarumma's goal, the Hungarian's method of striking the ball was so perfect that the giant Italian didn't even move as the ball hit the back of the net.
His fourth goal in this season's EPL (and third direct free-kick - the joint-most in a campaign since James Ward-Prowse also hit three during 2022/23) was seemingly vital, given that the Reds hadn't lost any of their previous 12 when opening the scoring, and City hadn't won any of their previous four when conceding first.
Liverpool implode at the death
Before Haaland assisted Silva with just six minutes left, against the run of play, City had recorded just one shot on target across their last four second halves in the Premier League, thanks to Antoine Semenyo's 56th attempt in this match.
Despite a draw then seeming most likely, Alisson's misjudgment in bundling over Matheus Nunes in injury time allowed Haaland to profit from the spot with his third successive penalty success since last missing a spot-kick - against Liverpool in November.
There was still time for Rayan Cherki to score from his own half before VAR intervened, and on-field official Craig Pawson decided to disallow the goal and send Szoboszlai off for holding Haaland back in their race to get to the ball.
It was an ignominious end to another action-packed game between these two Premier League giants.
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