The visiting team's bus arrived under police escort via a different route than usual to avoid large crowds, but without repeating the scenes of violence that preceded the teams' meeting in the UEFA Champions League in 2018, when City's bus was pelted with bottles.
For more than a decade, the relationship between the two clubs has been tense, fueled by a sense of injustice among Liverpool fans who believe their team deserved to win more league titles than City.
In the 2013-2014, 2018-2019, and 2021-2022 seasons, Liverpool finished second behind City, and in the last two with only a one-point difference.
City, led by their new Italian coach Enzo Maresca, arrived at "Anfield" continuing to assert their innocence after appealing against the decision of an independent committee that convicted them.
They also arrived as league leaders, but with a heavy shadow over the entire season and its potential outcomes, as the league association studies the penalty to be imposed on them, in parallel with the appeal process.
- "It's important to stay mentally strong" -
But they responded on the pitch on Sunday, achieving their sixth consecutive victory at the top, three points ahead of reigning champions Arsenal, benefiting from the numerical disadvantage of Spanish coach Andoni Iraola's team, who suffered their first defeat of the season.
Norwegian Erling Haaland, who paved the way for his team's victory by scoring the first goal, told Sky Sports that it was "a wonderful moment that will stay with us for a long time for everyone at Manchester City and for every fan. It was a difficult and tough match, but we showed amazing character from back to front. I'm very proud of everyone."
He added, "It's important to stay mentally strong, to stick together and focus on what we can influence. And what we can do is play good football and fight together. That's the only thing we can do."
Amidst these charged atmospheres and with the absence of Swede Alexander Isak, Dutchman Cody Gakpo, Hungarian Dominik Szoboszlai, and Frenchman Hugo Ekitike due to injury, Liverpool played with great urgency and pressured their guest from the start, but Maresca's team absorbed the situation and began to exchange attacks with their opponent but without clear danger to the goal.
During a City attack, Liverpool launched a counter-attack that almost resulted in the lead but Spanish Victor Monjus' shot found its way to Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma (33).
City responded with a shot by Argentine Enzo Fernandez (35) and a breakthrough by Elliot Anderson on the left side (43), but Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson was on the spot.
At the start of the second half, Liverpool came close to taking the lead with a shot by Welshman Lewis Coma (48) and then a long shot by Dutchman Ryan Gravenberch (49), but Donnarumma excelled in stopping them, followed by Argentine Alexis Mac Allister with a long attempt that went wide of the left post (50), similar to another attempt by the same player after 8 minutes.
Haaland responded with a City attempt that went wide of the right post after a pass from Ghanaian Antoine Semenyo (61).
- Turning point -
Liverpool then suffered a severe blow with the dismissal of Gravenberch for a second yellow card (62), so City quickly exploited the numerical advantage and scored the lead goal through Haaland, who launched a powerful shot into the net after a failed attempt by his substitute, Belgian Jeremy Doku, scoring his sixth goal in six league matches and his eighth in eight matches across all competitions (65).
Doku quickly added the second goal after penetrating the left side before launching a wonderful shot into the left corner of Alisson's goal (68).
City finally sealed the match with a third goal by Frenchman Ryan Cherki after a wonderful team play (78).
Crystal Palace finally broke their curse against Nottingham Forest and achieved their first victory over them in the Premier League, coming with a 3-1 result.
In 12 previous encounters between the teams in the top division, Palace failed to secure a win against their opponent, but they succeeded on Sunday in turning the tables and turning their deficit into their second victory of the season.
Algerian substitute Mohamed Belouiz saved Hull City from defeat against Everton and equalized 2-2 in the 74th minute, raising his team's tally to 9 points in ninth place, compared to 10 for their guest, who became fifth.
