MatchTalking points: Matip's milestone, Trent off the mark and more from the Etihad

The No.66 struck 10 minutes from time to cancel out Erling Haaland’s first-half effort, as the Reds denied the Premier League leaders a 24th home win in a row in all competitions.

Trent off the mark in style

What a time to score your first goal of the season. The visitors still trailed by one as the Etihad clock ticked towards 80 minutes, but Alexander-Arnold delivered.

Receiving the ball from Mohamed Salah just outside the City penalty area, the vice-captain took one touch to set himself before arrowing a superb strike across Ederson and into the far corner.

It earned his side a point, with Alexander-Arnold once again demonstrating his ability to provide big moments in big games for Liverpool.

“Trent was super-influential today,” said Jürgen Klopp at his post-match press conference. “Not only in the goal – around the goal, in all situations he was a really important player and a really good game of him.”

Liverpool’s mentality shows again

The Reds were already the Premier League’s comeback kings prior to kick-off, and they exhibited their mentality once more here.

Klopp’s men have now rescued at least a point from each of their last five top-flight matches when trailing at half-time – winning two and drawing three.

They have picked up 12 points from losing positions in the top flight this season, fighting back against AFC Bournemouth, Newcastle United, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brighton & Hove Albion, Luton Town and now Manchester City, and they have lost only one of the last 11 after conceding first.

Never write them off.

Salah assists again

He may not have scored this time, but Salah made sure he left a mark on this game.

The Egyptian’s assist for Alexander-Arnold means he has now been directly involved in 17 goals across his 19 appearances against Manchester City in all competitions for Liverpool (11 goals, six assists). That’s more than he has against any other opponent since he joined the Reds in 2017.

Overall this season, meanwhile, Salah’s tally increased to 17 goal involvements in 18 games so far.

Matip reaches 200

The focus may have been on the outstanding attacking players on display, but this result for Liverpool was one built on a strong defensive showing.

At the heart of that was Joel Matip, who marked his 200th Reds appearance with an excellent performance alongside Virgil van Dijk.

Matip and Van Dijk, assisted ably by Alexander-Arnold and Kostas Tsimikas, battled gamely all afternoon against Haaland, Jeremy Doku and co – and at the end had contributed hugely to a hard-earned point.

It’s tight at the top

Returning to action after the international break, City and the Reds entered today’s tussle in first and second place in the Premier League respectively, separated by just a single point.

And that slender difference remains in place after the stalemate in Manchester, though Arsenal, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur will be seeking to shake up the order in subsequent fixtures across the weekend.

Next up for Klopp’s men in the league is an Anfield clash with Fulham next Sunday, a game that comes after Liverpool host LASK in the Europa League on Thursday night.