Liverpool secures dramatic win to end Manchester City's unbeaten run
Life after Philippe Coutinho is off to an encouraging start for Liverpool.
The Reds ended Manchester City's hopes of going unbeaten in the Premier League this season with a superb attacking display Sunday to beat the league leader 4-3 at Anfield.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Leroy Sane traded first-half goals before the floodgates opened in the second period when Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah scored within nine minutes to negate a pair of late City goals.
The victory was a valuable one for a club in need of a morale boost after Coutinho was shipped off to Barcelona last week for a reported £142-million fee.
The Brazilian's departure was compounded ahead of the contest when news broke that club-record signing Virgil van Dijk would be absent from Liverpool's back line because of a strained hamstring.
With the odds stacked against them against a City side that beat Liverpool 5-0 earlier in the season en route to producing an unbeaten record in the opening 22 Premier League matches, the Reds came out flying in front of a electric atmosphere at Anfield.
It only took nine minutes to bring the home support to their feet when Oxlade-Chamberlain glided toward the penalty area and unleashed a low shot beyond Ederson to open the scoring.
Sane eclipsed Oxlade-Chamberlain's clever goal with a moment of brilliance when he skirted by a pair of markers and uncorked a strike that deflected off goalkeeper Loris Karius and into the back of the net.
It was all Liverpool to open the second frame when Firmino, Mane, and Salah - who took advantage of Ederson's gaffe and floated the team's fourth goal into the net from almost 50 yards out - gave the Reds a three-goal cushion.
Bernardo Silva gave the travelling support a glimmer of hope when he halved the deficit with six minutes remaining, and optimism in the away end was boosted even further with Ilkay Gundogan's injury-time goal.
Sergio Aguero almost completed the dramatic comeback with seconds remaining, but his close-range header glanced off the side netting from an offside position.
The final whistle sounded shortly afterwards to lift Liverpool into third place in the table, while City will hope rival Manchester United doesn't cut into its 15-point advantage when Jose Mourinho's men clash with Stoke City on Monday.