Manchester City 3-1 Liverpool - Match Report

Stefan Jovetic impressed with two goals on Monday night

It was hyped up as the first big game of the season and Manchester City strolled it without ever hitting top gear. A worrying omen for many of the title contenders as Alex Johnson writes...

Stevan Jovetic's brace and Sergio Aguero's strike handed Manchester City a resounding 3-1 win against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.

Jovetic's first came late in the first half when he capitalised on some hesitancy inside the Liverpool area, before he grabbed his second of the night 10 minutes into the second half.

Aguero scored the third with his first touch after stepping off the substitutes' bench, before a Pablo Zabaleta own goal handed Brendan Rodgers' side a late consolation.

The result makes it two wins from two for City at the start of their Premier League title defence, while Liverpool slip to what is their first defeat away from Anfield in 2014.

A tight opening to the game failed to generate any clear openings although Zabaleta did have a slight chance on 13 minutes when he met a Gael Clichy left-wing cross at the back post and rifled a volley over the top.

Two minutes later Yaya Toure had a first shot on target comfortably gathered by Simon Mignolet after a quick break by City from a Liverpool corner.

Liverpool pressed on 18 minutes with Joe Allen seeing a strong effort from just outside the area blocked by the dive of Vincent Kompany.

The Reds' best chance came on 33 minutes when a Raheem Sterling ball picked out Daniel Sturridge down the left of the area. He did well to elude Kompany before smashing a fierce drive at goal from a tight angle which Joe Hart beat away at his near post.

City had not really looked like scoring until they eventually took the lead on 41 minutes.

Samir Nasri's chip into the box from the right was headed down by Dejan Lovren under pressure from David Silva and when Alberto Moreno failed to react quickly enough Jovetic pounced to smash the ball under Mignolet from close range.

Liverpool had the ball in the net on 49 minutes when Sturridge got on the end of a Glen Johnson cross from the right, but the offside flag denied the Reds striker an equaliser.

That proved costly as City went two-up on 55 minutes when Jovetic started the move inside the Liverpool half before racing into the left side of the area to meet Nasri's cross from the right and coolly hammered his effort past Mignolet.

Liverpool debutant Lazar Markovic stepped off the bench and almost created an opening for Sturridge just after the hour but Kompany put in a timely tackle to deny him a certain goal.

Aguero then came on for the injured Edin Dzeko on 69 minutes and needed 23 seconds to make the game safe with City's third of the night. Fellow sub Jesus Navas played him in with a great ball from the right flank and the Argentinian raced into the box before beating Mignolet with a composed finish.

Liverpool did pull one back seven minutes from time when Sturridge used his strength to win the ball down the right before chipping a cross into the middle for Rickie Lambert to get on the end of. The big striker got his header at goal but Hart managed to block it on the line only for the rebound to bounce into the net off Zabaleta's knee.

A minute later Lambert again got free down the left of the area but instead of going for goal he tried to tee up Sturridge and that allowed Kompany to make the clearance.

Any chance of a late comeback for Liverpool was shattered when Johnson was forced to limp off on 86 minutes to leave the Reds down to ten men for the remainder of the game as they had already used up their three substitutes.