How it turned

Gravenberch’s first booking arrived in the 47th minute, for a foul on Elliot Anderson. It was a poor piece of timing rather than a serious challenge, and Iraola made no attempt to disguise his view afterwards: he said the tackle “wasn’t even a yellow card”. Several of his contemporaries, including Carragher and Neville, agreed with him. The referee, Chris Kavanagh, disagreed.

Whatever the first card was worth, the second one settled the game. Fifteen minutes after Anderson went down under Doku’s run inside the box, the Liverpool captain clipped him again — a second yellow, then a red, in the 62nd minute, with two more Liverpool players appealing to the fourth official for the original decision.

The sequence that followed is the part Liverpool will replay. Donnarumma and his defenders had held City at arm’s length for an hour. They were still holding them, technically, when the goals started arriving.

The sixteen minutes that decided it

Doku came off the bench in the 56th minute and changed the game twice over. Six minutes after arriving he won the foul that sent Gravenberch off, and then scored the second goal himself. Between those two events he supplied the first — his cross from the left taking a deflection on its way into Haaland’s path, with the Norwegian beating Alisson at the near post with a left-footed strike.

That was Haaland’s sixth of the season, and it continues a run that is now remarkable for its regularity rather than its volume. He has scored in all six league games. He has not scored twice in one. The scoring chart will eventually reward the volume; the scoreline today only needed one.

Doku’s own finish at 68 minutes was the best technical moment of the afternoon. Elliot Anderson’s pass came to him on the left, and he cut inside onto his right foot and curled it into the top corner from distance. Cherki then added the third in the 78th, exchanging passes with Joško Gvardiol inside the area, losing Jérémy Frimpong with a drag to the far side, and finishing past Alisson.

Two things are worth saying about the goals. None of them were worked out from training-ground choreography: the first came off a deflection, the second off a loose pass, the third off individual quality. And all three arrived between the 65th and the 78th minutes — a thirteen-minute window in which Liverpool were still adjusting to a goalkeeper outfield, still running against a held shape, and were simply outpaced by a bench.

Six straight, and what they added up to

Sunday’s win was City’s sixth in all competitions since the Community Shield defeat by Arsenal, and their sixth in the league from six. The league version of that run is a sequence of very different games, which is the most useful thing to have before the season gets harder.

• 23 Aug 2026 Bournemouth 2-1 — home. A late winner, and a reminder of how tight these can get.
• 28 Aug 2026 Crystal Palace 1-4 — away. Haaland twice, Cherki twice. The first statement performance.
• 5 Sep 2026 Coventry City 1-0 — home. The only clean sheet in the run so far.
• 13 Sep 2026 Man Utd 0-1 — away. Haaland again, for the derby.
• 20 Sep 2026 Sunderland 5-3 — home. Eight goals conceded and scored in three weeks.
• 11 Oct 2026 Liverpool 0-3 — away. The hardest of the six, and the only one won against ten men.

For Liverpool, the harder half starts now

The defeat did not settle anything for either side, and both managers said so. City have now played the two hardest fixtures of their season back to back and won six of the seven points available, but they travel to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday and face Ipswich at the Etihad on Saturday. Liverpool, for their part, have lost the one game they could least afford to lose before a run that includes difficult away trips.

There is also a longer-term wrinkle. This was the second consecutive season in which Liverpool have lost at home to City, and the last time that happened the club had to wait until 2025 to stop it. Iraola’s side have now conceded eight goals in two visits to the Etihad and Anfield in a fortnight, and the structural problem is the same one that showed up on Sunday: when Gravenberch is not on the pitch, there is not enough of him.

City’s next three games are the ones that will tell you whether the perfect record is a statement or a statistic. Paris in midweek, Ipswich at the weekend, and then AEK Athens. Nobody at the Etihad would claim six wins puts the title in a drawer, but it does mean that every game from here is the most difficult one they have played all season.

Both shirts from Sunday, with every fit

One card per shirt — pick the cut on the card

City won in the sky blue of the 2026/27 home shirt, and Liverpool lost at home in theirs. Both shirts this store carries are below — one card per shirt, with the Men’s, Women’s and Youth versions of that same shirt as buttons on the card, so you buy the cut that is actually made for whoever is wearing it. Women’s and Youth run on both shirts here.

Or narrow it down by collection

Manchester City jerseys All shirts Liverpool jerseys All shirts Premier League shirts Every club Manchester City The leaders Liverpool Anfield Men’s shirts Women’s shirts Youth shirts All football shirts

Sunday’s two shirts, with each fit available

Manchester City Home 2026/27 — sky blue, the one Haaland scored in

2026/27

$73.48$41.99

Men$41.99Women$49.48Youth$36.99

Liverpool Home 2026/27 — Anfield red

2026/27

$73.48$41.99

Men$41.99Women$49.48Youth$38.99

Questions people actually ask

Score, timings, red card and the standings are taken from the post-match reports of Reuters, Chosun Ilbo’s OSEN report, Aktualita and Chinese coverage, cross-checked against the published league table after Matchweek 6. Shirts shown are the current 2026/27 home designs in men’s, women’s and youth fits; prices and availability are as listed on the product pages at the time of writing.