Premier League 2019-20: Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City | 3 reasons why the Reds won 

It was truly heavy metal football as the two premier sides in England locked horns at the footballing cathedral that is Anfield. Two quickfire goals from Liverpool early on ensured that the defending champions, Manchester City, had to play catch-up for the entirety of the encounter.

Fabinho kicked off proceedings with a scorcher, catching the entire Man City defence off guard in the 6th minute amidst protests about a handball on the other end of the pitch. Seven minutes later, Jurgen Klopp's men doubled the lead thanks to a wonderful combination between Liverpool's fullbacks and a textbook header from the irrepressible Mohamed Salah.

In the second half, it was more trouble for Pep Guardiola's defending champions, as Sadio Mane was on hand to receive a Jordan Henderson cross at the near post, sending a header past a bewildered Claudio Bravo for Liverpool's third.

Bernardo Silva managed to pull one back for City in the 78th minute, however, it was somewhat too late for Pep's men to mount a comeback.

Liverpool's unbeaten march at the summit of the Premier League table continues, with a healthy 8 points lead above their nearest challengers, Leicester City & Chelsea. Man City, on the other hand, have a 9 points cavern to cross if they are to reach the high flying Reds from Merseyside.

In this article, we analyse a list of reasons why Jurgen Klopp's men emerged victorious from this encounter.

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#3 A momentary lapse in concentration

Fabinho lets loose a ferocious shot

Was it a handball? Was it a penalty? Was it clear and obvious? So many questions early on in the encounter as Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold seemed to have handled the ball in his penalty area.

The referee waved the game on, and the Reds hit Manchester City with a swift counter-attack. A few moments later, a red-faced Claudio Bravo was picking the ball out of his net, as Fabinho belted the ball home from 25 yards.

Man City seemed to have mentally switched off, as a good number of Pep Guardiola's men were still protesting the handball incident when the Reds launched the counter-attack, and presumably, they were expecting the referee to halt the game for a VAR check.

Whatever the case may have been, the City players should have played to the whistle, as that brief lapse in focus was all the time Liverpool needed to snag an early advantage.

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#2 A shambolic Manchester City defence

Claudio Bravo was the stand-in keeper for the day

It's been a somewhat horrendous season for Manchester City defensively, as Pep Guardiola's first-choice defensive guardians can't seem to stay off the treatment table.

For this encounter, City were missing a good number of their regulars, with the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Ederson Moraes, and Oleksandr Zinchenko in stitches. Benjamin Mendy was also not in the matchday squad, presumably due to tactical reasons.

Throughout the game, City's defence had an air of uncertainty, and every defensive incursion by Liverpool looked dangerous as a result. The Liverpool attackers waltzed around the City backline with relative ease, and Claudio Bravo, in particular, didn't seem like a competent stand-in for Ederson during this encounter.

The defensive uncertainty seemed to have sucked the life out of the City team, as Pep's men lacked their usual composure on the ball early on.

The great Scotsman, Sir Alex Fergurson once said; "Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles", perhaps City's defensive woes this season may have cost them the title so early in the campaign.

#1 Clinical Liverpool

The Reds celebrate Fabinho's goal early on in the encounter

Throughout the encounter, Manchester City seemed to have the bulk of possession, and indeed they had more shots than Liverpool at the end of the game.

Sergio Aguero, in particular, missed a couple of gilt-edged chances early on, as wave after wave of Man City attacking manoeuvres were snuffed out by Liverpool's award-winning defenders. Although City managed to string together several chances, they uncharacteristically lacked the killer instinct in this encounter, as they fluffed the final ball time and again.

Liverpool, on the other hand, were more composed whenever they had the opportunity to knit attacks together, and they finished off their chances ruthlessly. They capitalised on the identity crises in the City rearguard with aplomb, as Fabinho and Mohamed Salah unforgivingly took their chances early on, giving Jurgen Klopp's men a firm foothold on the day's proceedings.