EPL results: De Bruyne misses penalty as Man City, Liverpool share points

November 8, 2020 8:20 pm

Manchester City were held to a 1-1 draw by Liverpool in an action-packed English Premier League (EPL) match played at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

In the entertaining encounter, Mohammed Salah’s penalty was cancelled out by Gabriel Jesus’ goal before Kevin de Bruyne missed a penalty that could have given Pep Guardiola’s men the win.

The draw means Liverpool snap a three-game losing streak at City’s stadium. It also stops the Blue half of Manchester from claiming their first consecutive wins of the EPL season.

Liverpool grabbed the lead from the spot on 13 minutes after Sadio Mane cleverly won the penalty off Kyle Walker’s soft challenge. Salah brilliantly buried it in the left corner for his eighth goal of the EPL season.

Manchester City struggled to find their usual rhythm but eventually equalised on 31 minutes through Gabriel Jesus, their striker who recently returned from injury.

The Brazilian nudged Kevin de Bruyne’s pass beyond a Liverpool defender before poking it into the net.

The balance of play shifted and City should have taken the lead ten minutes later when the video assistant referee (VAR) called the attention of Craig Pawson, the centre referee, to a handball incident involving Liverpool’s Joe Gomez.

Pawson eventually pointed to the spot after a pitchside review but de Bruyne sent his kick wide — his first penalty miss in six attempts — despite Alisson Becker diving the wrong way, leaving both side level at halftime.

In an end-to-end second half that saw both teams trade chances, Jesus headed wide from eight yards while de Bruyne also narrowly missed the target.

The points are shared after a pulsating draw#MCILIV pic.twitter.com/iSiTAwLFVd

— Premier League (@premierleague) November 8, 2020
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Liverpool thought they had another penalty on 60 minutes for handball but VAR thought otherwise, ruling that Joao Cancelo had his arms by his side.

Neither side could grab the winner late on and the match finished even, with Man City consigned to 11th place on the EPL log while Liverpool remained third, a point behind Leicester City, the current league leaders.

In other matches of the day, Harry Kane scored his 150th EPL goal to help Tottenham win 1-0 at West Bromwich Albion, while Jamie Vardy converted the winning penalty that gave Leicester City a 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

RESULTS