Trent Alexander-Arnold says Liverpool will take huge belief from Saturday’s draw at Manchester City despite not playing “particularly well”.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring in the first half following Alisson Becker’s mishit kick out, giving Nathan Ake the opportunity to dance past a couple of defenders before playing the Norwegian through for his 50th Premier League goal.
Man City thought they had doubled their lead in the second half when Ruben Dias had put the ball in the net, but VAR ruled that Manuel Akanji had fouled Alisson Becker in the lead up.
Instead it was Liverpool who got the next goal, as Trent Alexander-Arnold drilled the ball past Ederson for the equaliser in the 80th minute.
Man City were once again denied a second goal when Akanji bundled Alisson over the goal line with just two minutes left on the clock, but the visitors were able to see out the game out and become the first Premier League team in 2023 to get a point at the Etihad.
“It’s definitely better than last year,” he told Sky Sports. “We haven’t had too many good results here in general. It’s a point gained. It wasn’t an amazing performance from us at all, but we take the point. There were positives – we had chances to win the game.
“I don’t think we played particularly well. Their formation and the way they set up really challenged us. We regrouped at half-time and came out with a bit more of a game plan to press them. It’s difficult subconsciously when you play against Man City – you can’t really get tight to them or stand off them.
“There was potentially a game plan to stop me from getting the ball in midfield. I think Bernardo [Silva] was very close to me when I was pulling inside. It was about getting on the ball in different ways and getting us up the pitch. We did that especially well in the second half.”
“There’s been many times when we’ve played a lot better against Man City and lost the game. The point was something that we needed and instils that belief that even if we don’t play well, if you get a point it means you’re doing something right.”
On his goal, Alexander-Arnold said: “I got the ball from Darwin. I could sense that there were bodies and I tried to get it across goal. Thankfully it found the bottom corner and it’s one we needed. It was about getting over the line and getting that point.”
