Six from six: Haaland, Doku and Cherki sink ten-man Liverpool
Sunday 11 October 2026 · By Rohan Sharma
Manchester City’s perfect start survived its hardest test yet on Sunday, as Erling Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Rayan Cherki scored in a 13-minute spell to beat ten-man Liverpool 3–0 at Anfield.
Enzo Maresca had said before the game that Haaland was “ready for Anfield” after fatigue. “He went to Marbella, [had] two, three days off, played golf, recovery,” the manager explained. The striker proved him right.
Anfield’s opening 45 minutes were tight, and City were made to wait. The turning point came on 62 minutes, when Ryan Gravenberch was sent off for a second yellow card after fouling Doku. Haaland struck less than three minutes later. Doku, on as a substitute, doubled the lead with a fine strike on 68 minutes, and Cherki finished a flowing move on 78.
According to the club, it made City back-to-back league winners at Anfield for the first time since January 1953.
They did it without Phil Foden, who served the final game of a three-match ban. Antoine Semenyo and Nico O’Reilly had been doubts with ankle and muscle problems respectively.
Played six, won six. City lead the league on 18 points, three clear of Arsenal, with 16 goals scored and five conceded.
The context remains unusual. Sunday was City’s first league game since they lodged their appeal, on 1 October, against the commission’s guilty verdict in the long-running charges case. The Premier League issued a statement on 2 October. ESPN and the league say the Appeal Board must complete its work within 12 weeks, with a decision due within 30 days of the hearing, and Sky reports that UEFA is monitoring the case.
Maresca says the owners are “convinced” City will win the appeal and that the club’s titles are “absolutely not tainted”. On the pitch, at least, the players have shown no sign of distraction.
Doku was the decisive figure. Introduced from the bench, he was fouled for Gravenberch’s second booking and then scored City’s second with a fine strike. Cherki’s goal showed the creative depth in Maresca’s squad, and Haaland’s opener answered any questions about his fatigue. Maresca has a squad that can absorb absences, including Foden’s suspension, and still win at one of the hardest grounds in Europe.
The fixtures come quickly. Ipswich visit the Etihad on Saturday 17 October. City travel to Aston Villa on 24 October (12:30), then host Brighton, plus 13 on goal difference, on 31 October.
Arsenal, three points back, will be watching closely. Mikel Arteta’s side play Nottingham Forest next Sunday, and any slip from City would matter in a title race already taking shape.
Anfield was supposed to be where the perfect run met its match. It became the latest stop on it.
Etihad Stadium, on Ashton New Road in east Manchester (M11 3FF), is the home of Manchester City. It opened as the City of Manchester Stadium for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and was converted for football by digging out the running track and building a lower tier, which is why the front rows sit unusually close to the pitch. After the North Stand expansion, first used at full capacity in 2026 and renamed the Pep Guardiola Stand, the ground holds roughly 60,000. The bowl is fully roofed, so weather is less of a seating decision than at older grounds.
The pitch runs north to south, so the goals sit in front of the two end stands, not the sides. The North Stand (Pep Guardiola Stand) is behind the north goal. The South Stand, which gained a third tier in 2015, is behind the south goal. Along the touchlines, the Colin Bell Stand is on the west, with the players’ tunnel and most of the broadcast cameras, and the East Stand faces it on the opposite side. On the plan above, north is at the top: the white goals are drawn directly in front of those two ends, and the away block is the south-east corner of the South Stand.
Visiting supporters are normally housed in South Stand blocks 113, 114, 213, 214, 313 and 314, entered through turnstiles L1, L2 and L3. Ticket collections, when your club has arranged them, are at the South Stand ticket office next to those entrances, and photo ID is often asked for. You are behind the south goal, high in places, and next to home support, so the noise carries both ways. Stairs in the upper tier are steep and legroom is ordinary Premier League tight. Turnstiles open about two hours before kick-off; arriving an hour early is the usual advice, especially if bags are being checked. Only small handheld bags around A4 size are accepted. A paid bag drop sits by the away turnstiles in the Grey car park. Flags need prior approval from the club safety officer. Under-14s must be with an adult over 18.
The simplest way in from the city centre is Metrolink. The Etihad Campus stop is beside the complex, and the tram from Piccadilly on the Ashton-under-Lyne line takes under ten minutes, longer on a matchday when cars are packed. Piccadilly and Victoria are the useful rail stations. Matchday car parking has to be booked in advance. Visiting coaches and minibuses use the Grey car park opposite the away turnstiles. Walking routes from the tram are well signed, but the campus is large, so follow the South Stand and away-end signs rather than the main City store entrance.
If you are not in the away allocation, the side stands give the cleaner view of how City play. Middle tiers of the Colin Bell Stand and the East Stand sit near halfway and look across both penalty areas. The North Stand is the family end and, since the rebuild, one of the louder home ends, with rail seating in the lower tier. Upper rows behind either goal are the cheaper seats: you see the shape of the game, but the near goal is the one you feel. There are no pillars to hide behind. Lower rows, because they were built below the old ground level, are very close but look slightly flat across the pitch.
Food and drink inside are standard stadium fare, and concourses get busy just before kick-off. The streets around Eastlands are not a pub crawl in the city-centre sense. Many away fans eat and drink nearer Piccadilly or in the Northern Quarter, then tram out. Check your own club’s travel notes for any pub that has been set aside. Home colours are sky blue. Keep away colours sensible in the concourse, and do not expect a neutral walk between the two ends once the ground fills.
Have your ticket on your phone or in hand before you reach the turnstile, and screenshot anything you might need if the signal dips. The South Stand ticket office is the place for duplicate collections, not a general box office for spare seats. City’s own matchday page is the one to trust for bag sizes, prohibited items and last-minute travel changes. The ground itself is straightforward once you are on the right side of it: south goal, South Stand, turnstiles L, and you are in.