Gerrard goal sinks City

Steven Gerrard scored the winner as Liverpool laboured to a 1-0 win over Man City.

In a game filled with disappointing play, Gerrard provided the one moment of class on 67 minutes as he rifled a low shot past Nicky Weaver to hand Liverpool their sixth home win from seven games.

City's away form has been dire and defeat at Anfield was their sixth on the road and leaves them too close to the relegation places for Stuart Pearce's liking.

The visitors should have been punished at Anfield inside ten minutes. Richard Dunne misjudged a hopeful long ball, allowing Dirk Kuyt to lay the ball into the path of Peter Crouch but the gangly front-man looked a striker low on confidence as he dallied before scooping his effort over the bar.

The game was slow to ignite, but Gerrard raised the decibel level on 19 minutes when firing just wide from 25 yards following a sloppy pass from Dunne.

City's first foray forward came on 21 minutes as Hatem Trabelsi galloped onto a clever pass from Claudio Reyna, but he only succeeded in slicing his effort wide of goal.

The visitors appeared to take some confidence from their first noteworthy attack as Bernardo Corradi worked some space in the box only to shoot wide.

The clearest chance of the first half fell to Luis Garcia, but he contrived to drag his shot into the side netting after being found superbly by a raking ball from Sami Hyypia.

Liverpool exerted some early pressure on the City goal after the break with a series of corners, but they failed to take advantage and the game reverted to type - with the play littered with misplaced passes and sloppy control.

City emerged from their slumber on the hour as a lofted ball down the middle from Ben Thatcher caused panic in the Liverpool box. Darius Vassell and Micah Richards failed to get the ball down, but Corradi was able to get his shot away and he went close from the edge of the box.

Joey Barton was left aghast moments later as his driving run towards the Liverpool area was halted by a cynical trip from Steve Finnan, but referee Rob Styles inexplicably failed to award a free kick.

And Barton's fury was compounded minutes later as his sloppy pass allowed Liverpool to take the lead.

There appeared little danger when Barton picked up possession in his own half, but Kuyt intercepted his pass towards Sylvain Distin, the ball fell to Gerrard who strode forward before unleashing a drive into the bottom corner with unerring accuracy.

Hyypia was one of Liverpool's more creative players on the day and he came close to grabbing the goal his display merited when shooting firmly at Weaver with 15 minutes remaining.

City came close to pinching an unlikely leveller with five minutes remaining as substitute Georgios Samaras forced the previously untroubled Jose Reina to push his shot around the post, while the Spanish keeper had to gather a shot from Reyna from the resulting corner.

In truth, though, Liverpool were rarely tested as they claimed three points without ever finding their best form.

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Liverpool v Man City