Liverpool go 5 clear as Manchester City lose again

Liverpool opened a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 home defeat of Aston Villa after Manchester City slumped to a fourth successive defeat as Brighton & Hove Albion hit back to beat champions 2-1 at home on Saturday.

Arne Slot’s side made it nine wins from their opening 11 league games with a Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah scoring the goals in a deadly demonstration of counterattacking.

City took the lead with Erling Haaland scoring his 12th league goal of the campaign but late goals by Joao Pedro and Matt O’Riley stunned Pep Guardiola’s side who enter the international break with much to ponder.

Liverpool head into the international break with 28 points from 11 games with City on 23 while Brighton and Hove Albion are in fourth place on 19 points.

Dutchman Slot has enjoyed a remarkable start at Liverpool with 15 wins from his first 17 in charge since replacing the seemingly irreplaceable Juergen Klopp.

“In general we had control over the game and scored from two counterattacks which is maybe not what we would expect,” Slot said.

Manchester City midfielder Bernardo Silva said after the 4-1 thrashing away to Sporting in the Champions League in midweek that the team were in a dark place.

And despite Haaland’s early goal at Brighton, the gloom deepened as they lost their grip on the game with Joao Pedro and O’Riley capping memorable night for the Seagulls. “I will reflect in these 10 days. Clear our heads, players come back fit, this is the target,” Guardiola, whose only similar run in all competitions was at Bayern in 2015 when he suffered three back-to-back defeats and a shootout loss in the German Cup, said.