Manchester City's bench supplied the decisive intervention at Anfield. Jérémy Doku helped create the opening goal and scored the second in a 3-0 victory over Liverpool, turning a goalless contest into a clear away win after Ryan Gravenberch's dismissal. Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki completed the scoring on Sunday as City maintained their perfect Premier League start.
The score tells us who won. The sequence tells us rather more about why. Doku did not arrive with City already cruising: he entered a match that still needed breaking open. His contribution crossed the line between threatening possession and something Liverpool could no longer contain.
The substitution mattered before the score changed
Doku began on the bench, with Antoine Semenyo, Iliman Ndiaye and Cherki among the attacking players in City's starting side. That gave Enzo Maresca a different kind of intervention to make during the second half. He could introduce a player whose directness changed the immediate challenge facing Liverpool without needing to replace the whole attacking structure.
There is an important distinction here. A substitute can benefit from an altered game without being incidental to the alteration. Doku was involved in the challenge that brought Gravenberch's second booking, then in the attack that produced Haaland's opener. The dismissal and the attacking contribution belong in the same explanation, not in competing versions of it.
Liverpool's own match account describes a contest with limited clear opportunities before the second-half change. It would therefore be misleading to write backwards from 3-0 and present the entire afternoon as an uninterrupted City procession. The visitors had to make the numerical advantage count. They did so quickly.
Anfield's decisive sequence
The official match timeline places the dismissal in the 62nd minute and the goals in the 65th, 68th and 78th. Those displayed minutes are rounded match labels, not exact measurements of elapsed time. City's post-match account gives the more precise gap from the red card to Haaland's goal as two minutes and 37 seconds.
| Match minute | Event | Score afterwards | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | Gravenberch receives a second yellow card | 0-0 | Liverpool must continue with ten players |
| 65 | Haaland scores after Doku's involvement | 0-1 | City convert the changed conditions into a lead |
| 68 | Doku adds the second | 0-2 | Liverpool's recovery task becomes substantially harder |
| 78 | Cherki scores City's third | 0-3 | The visitors put the result beyond Liverpool's reach |
This is not an argument that every red card produces the same outcome. An extra player offers possibilities, not a goal entitlement. The winning team still has to move the ball, choose the right moments and finish. Equally, the three-goal margin cannot be separated from Liverpool having one fewer player for the decisive spell.
For readers following the broader domestic picture, the Football hub brings together our current reporting. This match deserves to be read through its particular circumstances rather than treated as a reusable prediction for the next meeting.
Doku offered more than a fresh pair of legs
Maresca's post-match assessment singled out Doku's movement inside in the build-up to the first goal. That is the useful detail: the winger's value was not confined to stretching play towards the touchline. He became involved where the chance could be turned into a finish, then supplied a goal of his own.
Haaland's reaction emphasised staying focused after missing an earlier opportunity. The contrast is instructive. A forward's previous miss does not decide the next attack, just as a quiet first half does not decide the final score. City's response was practical rather than cosmetic: they took the next opening and followed it with another.
The earlier account of City's midfield rebuild provides context for a side whose personnel have changed. Sunday offers a narrower, match-specific lesson about that squad: an alternative attacking option was available when the starting combination had not yet produced a goal. It does not establish that one selection should now be permanent.
What Liverpool should take from the defeat
Liverpool have two different passages to review. Their work at eleven against eleven cannot simply be discarded because of the eventual margin. Their response after the dismissal cannot be excused merely by pointing to it. Those are separate coaching questions, and combining them into one judgement would make the review less useful.
The immediate challenge after losing a midfielder is to decide which spaces can still be protected and which attacking ambitions have to be reduced. Falling behind so soon makes that adjustment harder, because preserving compactness and pursuing an equaliser begin pulling in different directions. City's second goal sharpened that conflict before Liverpool could regain a foothold.
That is analysis of the match state, not a claim to know the instructions given on the touchline or inside the dressing room. No private tactical conversation is available to us. The observable consequence is sufficient: Liverpool went from level to two behind during a short and decisive period.
Three points, not a promise
City's official reaction confirms six wins from their opening six league fixtures. That is an excellent start, but October form does not settle a season. Doku has strengthened his case for involvement; Maresca still has to judge opponents, workload and the balance of future line-ups. Liverpool, meanwhile, must respond to a defeat without allowing one altered second half to become the only story told about their team.
For betting readers, the same discipline applies. Do not turn a 3-0 score against ten players into an automatic assumption about future goal margins. If you choose to bet, keep it affordable and remember that every stake can be lost. BetOwl is for adults aged 18 and over; our responsible gambling guidance explains the support and limits available.