Liverpool vs. Man City: Half-Time Update

Tonight’s Monday night fixture has reached half-time, where the Merseyside home crowd have a lot to cheer about, as they watch their Liverpool faithful lead a crestfallen Manchester City 3-0.

Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool, missing a handful of first-team regulars, started the much brighter of the two sides, pushing City back deep without letting them have too much time in possession.

The first attempt of the game fell to Liverpool’s Luis Suarez, who was put through on goal from a Andy Carroll headed flick on. His side-foot shot, despite being on his weaker foot, was parried onto the outside of the post by City’s goalkeeper Joe Hart.

The opening goal came on 13 minutes; after untidy defending, a Miereles shot was deflected via Vincent Kompany into the path of Andy Carroll, who hit a fierce left-footed shot from 25 yards that was too powerful for Hart to keep out.

Things were to go from bad to worse for City, who lost Carlos Tevez to injury from the restart. The Argentinean striker signalled from the bench before walking down the tunnel that he may have torn his hamstring.

The Citizens, who haven’t won an away fixture since Boxing Day, resorted back to two holding midfielders for tonight’s game, then reshuffled their formation after bringing on Mario Balotelli. The injury to Tevez saw them switch from a 4-2-3-1 into a 4-4-2 with James Milner playing more centrally. With no Silva in the team, there is a lot of pressure on Milner to be the provider of creativity for the away side.

The second goal, which looked on the cards for some time, came after a period of attacking play where City could not clear out of their defence. After attempts from Meireles, Suarez, Carroll and Aurelio all had attempts to score, the loose ball eventually fell to Dirk Kuyt, who struck a fantastic first-time effort into the bottom left-hand corner of the City goal.

The third came just 90 seconds later; with City’s defence starting to wobble, a Meireles cross was aimed towards Andy Carroll, who challenged for a header with Kolarov, the result of which saw the ball fly high into the corner of the goal for an own goal.

The team news beforehand saw Liverpool decide to fill a defensive injury crisis with 18-year-old right-back John Flanagan. The Liverpool-born Academy graduate makes his debut in front of a noisy Anfield crowd, alongside experienced defenders Fabio Aurelio, Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel.

With the continued absence of Captain Steven Gerrard, Jay Spearing, another Academy graduate, starts in midfield for the Reds.

City have decided to leave de Jong, Silva and Balotelli on the bench, with the FA Cup Semi-Final with rivals Manchester United coming up on Saturday. English winger Adam Johnson starts, as does Edin Dzeko, who is yet to score in the league for his new club.

Liverpool: Reina, Aurelio, Carragher, Skrtel, Flanagan, Meireles, Lucas, Spearing, Suarez, Carroll, Kuyt

Substitutes: Gulacsi, Wilson, Robinson, Cole, Maxi, Shelvey, Ngog

Man City: Hart, Kompany, Kolarov, Lescott, Boyata, Milner, Johnson, Barry, Yaya Toure, Dzeko, Tevez (Balotelli 16)

Substitutes: Taylor, Zabaleta, McGivern, Wright-Phillips, Silva, De Jong