That stoppage time was crazy. Ten minutes of carnage. Donnarumma made a save for the ages to deny Mac Allister a glorious equaliser. Alisson then went forward to act as a makeshift centre forward. People will be divided over whether the referee/VAR were right to disallow the final City goal. By the letter of the law, VAR were correct to do so. Szoboszlai first foul on Haaland was blatant but perhaps Craig Pawson could have also played advantage and allowed Cherki’s goal to stand.

To give another scenario, if an attacker was fouled inside the box while crossing a ball, a cross that directly resulted in a goal, I’m not sure the referee would have to disallow the goal and give the penalty. Common sense might mean that the referee would simply give the goal and accept that ultimately the attacking team benefitted from the advantage.

City’s players celebrate in front of the jubilant away fans. Haaland leading the celebrations, it is his goal from the penalty spot that finally turned the game in City’s favour.

Guardiola, the winning manager, looks absolutely broken. The stress, the drama. But he should be very proud of his side for somehow rescuing that game.

90+7 min: As Liverpool throw bodies forward, City break with Ait Nouri streaming forward from left back. He has both Cherki and Haaland to his right but opts instead to shoot, with Alisson making a strong save. On the touchline, Guardiola looks like he is going to have a heart attack.

90+6 min: Liverpool’s race looks run. City are happy to wind down the clock, bringing on Aké for Semenyo. Can the home side force one more chance?

90+5 min: Liverpool make another change, Chiesa on for Kerkez. Haaland was also booked for taking off his shirt in the celebrations.

90+2 min: A brief delay as Matheus Nunes receives treatment. It was a terrible decision from Alisson to come out of his goal, not the first time he has been erratic in this game. Haaland has the ball in his hand as he waits, with Szoboszlai chatting to him.

90 min: Great pass from Cherki releases Semenyo, but the winger looks tired and he labours to retrieve the ball before delivering a weak cross, which Alisson collects.

Seven minutes added on. Seven!

88 min: The game is there for the taking. It just depends if either side really wants to open themselves up and go for it. It feels like in swapping Jones for Gakpo, Liverpool now seem happy to settle for a point.

86 min: Slot, perhaps a few minutes too late, responds by making his first subs: Jones is on for Gakpo. An Englishman for a Dutchman with both England manager Thomas Tuchel and Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman watching on in the stands.

82 min: City probe with the ball, but looks short of creativity. Liverpool seem content to sit back now and hit City the break when they can. It’s notable that Slot has not made a sub yet with eight minutes remaining of normal time.

80 min: “The Hungarian for traction engine: gőzvontató”, informs Paul Griffin.

“Szoboszlai’s strike was like one of those free kick goals Cristiano Ronaldo spent the last decade not scoring,” remarks Kári Tulinius.

“Shades of Roberto Carlos’ goal against France but with the right foot”, emails Ali Mukadam.

“City could have had 3,762 keepers in goal and they still wouldn’t have stopped that one,” suggests Jim Morrish.

78 min: How will City respond? They have been desperately poor this second half.

76 min: An outrageous goal from Szoboszlai. That goal was a similar range to the free-kick he hit against Arsenal in August. The difference being that this goal went in off the opposite post, and rather than Szoboszlai curling the ball with his instep, he laced it with the ball curling away to the keeper’s left.

There were just two City defenders in the defensive wall (should there have been more?!) and Szoboszlai curved and dipped his shot around them expertly before the ball found the inside of the post.

72 min: City certainly had the better first half, Liverpool are now bossing the second. Cherki has barely had a kick since coming on. After a poor first half, Gravenberch is running things in midfield.

70 min: From the resulting free-kick, just right of centre, Salah blasts a woeful attempt on goal high into the Kop.

67 min: A brilliant burst from Szoboszlai leaves O’Reilly for dead and the Hungarian finds Salah with a wonderful through ball. Salah gets the wrong side of Guehi, who pulls the Egyptian to the ground juuuuuuuuust outside the City box. Liverpool are furious and pester Craig Pawson for both a penalty and/or a red card, but the referee awards a free kick and dishes out a yellow card. The free-kick is definitely correct, replays show the contact was outside the box, but one could argue that that was the denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and thus a red.

64 min: Gakpo drives at the City defence, finds Ekitike, who flicks a clever backheel towards Wirtz on the edge of the box … but the German sees his shot blocked by Guéhi! Wirtz tried to guide his shot, pass it almost, when he might have been better off putting his foot through the ball with plenty of bodies in front of him.

62 min: Just on the pitch, Ruben Dias takes aim from 25 yards, the ball just swerving wide of Alisson’s far post!

59 min: Two City subs, although Khusanov coming off is a concussion protocol substitute, so won’t count towards City’s five allotted changes. Khusanov is off for Ruben Dias, and Cherki is on for Marmoush, who has been erratic. Cherki should give City more control in what has been another frenetic half.

57 min: Khusanov is going to have to come off, after sustaining a blow to the head in blocking a Gakpo shot. It was heroic defending actually, although Gakpo was eventually ruled offside after a nice Liverpool move. Khusanov wasn’t to know, though, and bravely put his head in harm’s way.

53 min: Ekitike goes close! Wirtz finds the Frenchman on the left and Ekitike takes the shot early, first time, which completely takes Donnarumma off guard. The Italian is just a passenger as the ball curls just a few inches wide of the far post.

51 min: Almost every touch that Salah takes is heavy, and seemingly every pass is slightly off, behind a teammate, too far in front. He is having a stinker, which probably means that he will shortly score.

49 min: Sorry, should say that Van Dijk was booked at the start of the second half for an ugly, clumsy challenge through the back of Haaland. Van Dijk pleaded his innocence but it was a blalant yellow card.

48 min: Semenyo boots a long ball over the top, and Marmoush is onto it in a flash! Alisson races out of his goal and his area, but completely misjudges the bounce, airkicking the ball. The Liverpool keeper is incredibly lucky that in swiping his foot at the ball, Marmoush also took his eye off the ball. The City man should really have been braver, and by the time he realised where the loose ball had got to, Szoboszlai had scrambled back and cleared the danger.

46 min: Good from Gakpo, who wriggles free on the left and finds Salah’s left foot with a neat pass. Salah takes the shot first time but completely mis-kicks it. Another waste! The Egyptian looks devoid of confidence. One suspects that if Liverpool had better options on the bench, Salah wouldn’t be on the field.

It looked like Szoboszlai was hobbling as he left the pitch. Not what Liverpool need with Calvin Ramsay the only feasible right-back option on the bench. The 22-year-old Scot is yet to make his Premier League debut for Liverpool, despite signing in June 2022.

Let’s see if Szoboszlai re-emerges.

Half-time reading:

45+2 min: Bernardo Silva has been the best player on the pitch by a distance.

45 min: Two minutes added on. Manchester City have certainly had the better of the half, registering 10 shots. Liverpool have not faced more than that in any first half this season.

44 min: Liverpool claim for a penalty! From the resulting free-kick, Ekitike meets the cross, nodding back across goal. At the back post, Salah flails and falls to the ground, with Bernardo Silva looking a little guilty. Replays show that the Portuguese briefly had a hold of Salah’s shirt, but there wasn’t enough in it for a foul.

43 min: Yellow card for Marmoush, who is penalised for flattening Gravenberch on a Liverpool counter-attack.

42 min: Sloppy from Liverpool! Gravenberch gives the ball away on the edge of his own box but Marmoush can’t capitalise, pinging a shot high and wide.

40 min: A crucial covering tackle from Szoboszlai gets Liverpool out of jail. Semenyo and Marmoush combined in midfield and nearly released Haaland but the stand-in Liverpool right back slid in to clear the danger.

38 min: Fury in both the stands and the Liverpool dugout as Marmoush earns a cheap free-kick from Konate. It was soft, but probably not that different to the challenge that Konate attempted inside the Liverpool box earlier in the half (that was not given).

36 min: “Agree with Andy that Jota has been a big lose to Liverpool, but I think that lose is physiological more than anything”, emails Tony Ratcliffe. “On the pitch I think Luis Díaz, and dare I say it, Trent Alexander-Arnold are greater losses.”

34 min: A speculative shot from Haaland nearly catches Alisson cold at the near post! Rodri’s cross was a deep one and Haaland beat Szoboszlai to the ball at the back post, but couldn’t quite swivel enough to get enough power.

32 min: Sensational one-on-one defending from Guehi to deny Ekitike. The Frenchman raced through on goal with only the City defender for company but couldn’t shake Guéhi, despite feinting, wriggling and chopping left and right. It was a fine pass from Wirtz to send Ekitike on his way, by the way. Those two are certainly combining nicely.

30 min: “I fell down a fun rabbit hole with Anfield’s status as the only place where Erling Haaland has played Premier League football but never scored in that competition,” emails Eric Peterson. “Haaland does have an Anfield goal on his CV, from his Champions League visit in October 2019 with Salzburg. Easy poacher’s goal, two yards in front of an empty net after Virgil Van Dijk and Curtis Jones let a cross go between them and keeper Adrian (the more things change). But the Liverpool brass apparently liked the cross so much that in the following winter transfer window they signed the guy who delivered it, Takumi Minamino. It took the board a little longer to come around on someone else in the Salzburg lineup that day - they didn’t sign Dominik Szoboszlai until 2023.”

28 min: Donnarumma comes flapping for a cross, and unconvingly palms it straight to Salah. It’s an awkward ball and Salah is at an acute angle, but the Egyptian is once again wasteful as he lobs a hopeful shot straight over the bar.

26 min: Chance for Liverpool! Mac Allister fizzes in a fine line-breaking pass to Salah’s feet. The veteran has space to turn and shoot, but a loose touch allows Guéhi to nip in and make a challenge. It was only a half-chance but Salah is lacking that killer instinct at the moment. Last season, he would have likely killed that ball instantly and got a clean shot off.

24 min: More City pressure! Bernardo Silva wriggles out of three or four tackles and delivers a peach of a low cross across Liverpool goal. It is just beyond Haaland but the ball is recycled to Semenyo, who shoots fiercely from the edge of the box, only to see his shot is blocked by former Bournemouth teammate Kerkez. Good defending.

22 min: Another City opening as Ait Nouri gets to the Liverpool byline. He cuts a ball back to Haaland, but it arrives slightly behind the Norwegian. Rather than shoot himself, Haaland lays the ball off to Marmoush, but his shot is wayward from a promising position. Liverpool are living dangerously.

20 min: Twenty minutes gone, and Jota’s name and song is belted out around Anfield. Gone but not forgotten.

18 min: This is definitely City’s game so far. They are peppering Liverpool’s box with crosses and the home side are lucky to escape after something of a goalmouth scramble.

16 min: Marmoush goes down in the Liverpool box after tussling with Konaté, and appeals for a penalty … not given. Konaté was physical but didn’t foul the City man.

14 min: I think because Semenyo and Marmoush are playing very narrow, in from the flanks, Liverpool are struggling to pick them up. Neither Szoboszlai nor Kerkez want to follow them into the centre of the pitch, while Gravenberch and Mac Allister are already preoccupied with Silva, Rodri, and O’Reilly.

12 min: City look very dangerous. A few times, Semenyo and Haaland have been given the space to turn and run at the Liverpool backline. Haaland plays a through ball to Marmoush, but the Egyptian is ruled offside. It’s a very high line from Liverpool’s defence, which is not clever when they are also affording plenty of room in front of them.

11 min: I have been increasingly impressed with Kerkez this season. The Hungarian started his Liverpool career poorly, but now seems to have found his feet.

9 min: Liverpool have conceded 16 set piece goals this season and give City a chance to load the box with a free-kick. Silva curls a cross in and Khusanov rises highest, but plants his header over the bar. The 21-year-old might have been better leaving it, with Guéhi possibly better placed behind.

7 min: This has been a frantic, brilliant opening. Both teams are tearing forward: counter attack upon counter attack upon counter attack.

5 min: Slot spoke about the importance of Liverpool pressing and Ekitike picks Khusanov’s pocket on the City byline before squaring a very dangerous cutback towards the penalty spot. Wirtz was lurking but Silva did well to clear the danger for City.

3 min: I should mention that Kerkez did well to get back and put Haaland under pressure. It was a scrappy attempt on goal, and Liverpool’s left back made it awkward for the City striker.

1 min: A first touch for Guéhi, who is instantly booed by the home crowd, presumably for having the temerity of choosing to play for another football club.

“Being a Welsh Liverpool fan, this has not been a vintage weekend so far,” emails Matt Dony. “I’m hoping Liverpool can cheer me up today. The reverse fixture was chastening, but I’m sure there’ll be an improvement today. Whether it’s enough of an improvement? Eh, I’m not confident. I’d take a scrappy draw right now.”

Here come the teams.

Liverpool kept City waiting in the tunnel. Donnarumma and Ekitike embraced, former PSG teammates of course.

Bernando Silva is City’s captain today and he leads out the visitors, with Erling Haaland bringing up the rear.

This is a good read.

Arne Slot, Liverpool manager, is next to speak to Sky Sports. He reiterates that the biggest recent improvement that his side have made is their work rate out of possession.

We have made a lot of steps forward mainly off the ball, mainly with players better able to play this schedule we are playing. The biggest improvement I see is players are more ready for the combination of the Premier League and Champions League at the intensity we need.

We have both shown we are good in ball possession and can create chances. Both teams want the ball as much as possible and both have shown from a high press they are a threat as well. A good and proper counter attack can be dangerous at both ends as well.

Wirtz has improved massively with his work rate off the ball which is so vital in the Premier League. You need to be very good in every department.

Pep Guardiola, Manchester City manager, speaks to Sky Sports:

As always, we will be ourselves. Here and always, we have to be ourselves and the personality has to be shown. To ignite the fire everyone has to do it. These two clubs in the last eight years - we have been dominating the competition.

“Does it make me a bad fan/person that I really wanted Mo [Salah] to be on the bench?” asks Ian Copesake. “I haven’t forgiven him for his blow up but I preferred it when we were solid without him.”

Nope, it doesn’t.

Here is Jonathan Wilson’s big preview of today’s game.

We’re into the final minutes here: Palace lead Brighton 1-0. Join Daniel Harris for the latest.

An email from Andy Flintoff: “One big difference between last year’s champions and this year’s Liverpool team that you’ve elided is the unfortunate loss of Diogo Jota, which has obviously affected the club both tactically and mentally. They haven’t really replaced that sort of player who could always find space whether coming in from the flanks or from deep.”

This is spot on. It’s impossible to quantify just how big an impact Jota’s death must have had on the players and staff.

Two very strong XIs, and no real surprises. But look at the difference in quality and experience between the two benches.

Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Endo, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha.

Manchester City: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Ake, Cherki, Gonzalez, Foden, Alleyne, Lewis.