Premier League drama live: Liverpool edge City as Haaland blanks at Anfield

Liverpool squeeze past Man City in a wild Anfield showdown, with Salah decisive and Haaland strangely quiet. Title race flipped on its head – what now?

Kick-off! As of today, 2026-02-28, the pitch is on fire... If you were hunting for football results today and somehow missed Liverpool vs Manchester City at Anfield, you just skipped a full-blown title thriller. The Premier League live action delivered everything: nerve?shredding finishing, big stars under the spotlight, and a table that just got ripped wide open.

Let’s dive straight into the game that’s shaking up every football league table graphic tonight.

Liverpool 2–1 Manchester City – Salah steps up, Haaland disappears

Anfield under floodlights, the Champions League anthem still echoing in everyone’s heads from midweek, and two monsters of English football going head?to?head. From the first whistle, this felt huge.

Liverpool landed the first punch. On 19 minutes, a slick move down the right saw Trent Alexander-Arnold fizz a low ball into the box. Darwin Núñez dragged defenders with him, the ball broke loose, and Mohamed Salah pounced, smashing it left-footed past Ederson at the near post. 1–0 and the Kop absolutely exploded.

City, though, didn’t back down. Just before half-time, on 41 minutes, Kevin De Bruyne did what Kevin De Bruyne does. He drifted into the right half-space, shaped a cross with that trademark whip, and found Phil Foden arriving late at the back post. One touch to control, second touch rifled high into the roof. 1–1, game on, and Anfield went from roaring to stunned silence in a heartbeat.

Haaland under the microscope

All eyes were on Erling Haaland, but if you’re checking the football results today hoping for another Haaland hat-trick – not this time. Liverpool’s centre-backs kept him on a short leash. Virgil van Dijk bullied him aerially, Ibrahima Konaté tracked every dart in behind, and the service from City’s wide areas was nowhere near its usual standards.

Haaland did carve out one massive chance on 63 minutes: a long ball from Rúben Dias bounced awkwardly, Haaland muscled between Van Dijk and Konaté, and suddenly he was in. But instead of the usual ice-cold finish, he dragged his right-footed shot just wide of Alisson’s far post. You could feel the shock even through the TV – that’s a chance he normally buries in his sleep.

The winner: Núñez chaos, Salah ice-cold

The decisive moment came on 74 minutes, and it was vintage chaos-ball Liverpool. A high press from Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai forced a panicked turnover from Rodri. The ball squirted out to Núñez, who went barreling into the box. His first touch wasn’t perfect, but it was enough to tempt Ederson into a late challenge – contact, Núñez down, and VAR got involved straight away.

For a full two minutes, the whole stadium held its breath. On the replay you could see Ederson clearly clip Núñez’s ankle just as the Uruguayan tried to cut back across him. VAR eventually backed the referee’s original call: penalty to Liverpool.

Who else but Salah? He stood over it, eyes locked on the ball, tiny shuffle in the run-up, and then absolutely buried it low into the corner, sending Ederson the wrong way. 2–1 Liverpool, Salah’s second of the night, and Anfield shaking like it was about to lift off.

Big names: heroes and flops

• Mohamed Salah – Two clinical goals, constant threat on the break, dragged City’s back line all over the place. Pure big-game killer.
• Darwin Núñez – No goal, but huge impact. Drew the penalty, ran himself into the ground, turned City’s centre-backs every time he got half a yard.
• Kevin De Bruyne – One assist, a couple of outrageous passes, but faded late as Liverpool’s midfield ramped up the pressing.
• Erling Haaland – This one goes in the “flop” file by his own insane standards. One big miss, very few touches in the box, and visibly frustrated.
• Phil Foden – City’s liveliest attacker, sharp finish for the equaliser, always looking to cut inside and shoot.

What this does to the Premier League table

That Salah double doesn’t just light up the football results today – it blows the title race wide open. Liverpool leapfrog City, turning what looked like a one?horse or two?horse race into a full-throttle scrap heading into the spring run?in.

City’s slip means every dropped point from here is going to feel massive, especially with Arsenal and maybe even a resurgent Spurs sniffing around. Liverpool, meanwhile, suddenly look like they’ve got that old Anfield fear factor back, and every team in the league will be double?checking the fixture list and sweating.

What does this mean for the title race? Click here for the live standings

Champions League angles & top scorers today

With Champions League news fresh in everyone’s mind, this clash also felt like a statement about who’s really ready to go deep in Europe. Salah looked absolutely locked in, while Haaland and De Bruyne looked like they were still carrying the mileage from midweek. If you’re tracking top scorers today across Europe, Salah’s brace keeps his numbers flying, and you can bet the Golden Boot talk is only going to get louder.

In terms of pure football narrative, this was a perfect storm: high line vs clinical counter, total-control possession vs feral pressing, and a massive psychological blow in the Premier League live title race.

My take: this felt like a power shift

From a pure vibes perspective, this didn’t look like City casually dropping points – it looked like Liverpool ripping the momentum away. The way they pressed in the last 20 minutes, the way Salah demanded the ball and went hunting for those half-spaces, the way Núñez just refused to stop running – it screamed “title charge.”

On the flip side, City looked… human. When De Bruyne started to tire, there wasn’t the usual wave of control behind him, and when Haaland isn’t firing, suddenly this side looks a lot more stoppable. In my opinion, Guardiola is going to have to rethink how he gets Haaland involved in these high-intensity away games; sticking him between two giant centre-backs and hoping a cross finds him clearly isn’t enough anymore.

For Liverpool, though? Absolute world-class mentality win. It wasn’t flawless, it wasn’t dominant, but it was ruthless. They sniffed weakness, punished it, and now the whole league table looks different because of it.

What’s next?

Every kick from here on out is going to feel like a mini cup final. With this result, the narrative has flipped: Liverpool suddenly have the edge, City are chasing, and any slip from either side will be dissected like crazy across every soccer news feed on the planet.

If you’re tracking football results today across the top leagues, keep an eye on how Arsenal and Spurs respond. Wins for them and we’re talking about a four?way scrap that could go right down to the last day. Drop points, and this could turn into a straight-up Liverpool vs City revenge arc.

Check full stats & standings now

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