Gerrard forces City back to the drawing board

Liverpool 2 Manchester City 1

Graeme Souness, the Blackburn Rovers manager, recently mused that his under-performing players might not respond to their poor run of results until their League position became critical.

The same could be said for Kevin Keegan and Manchester City. With a formidable run of fixtures ahead of them that includes games against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, they are in grave danger of slipping into the bottom three.

This defeat, the 14th consecutive Premiership match they have failed to win, leaves them just three points ahead of Leicester City in the final relegation place.

Meanwhile Liverpool moved into the fourth Champions' League place for the first time this season - on goals scored - but this unconvincing victory gave no indication of better times ahead, with their inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard, the only shining light.

It was the midfielder's scrappy goal - his second in as many games - that proved decisive, a minute after the outstanding Shaun Wright-Phillips had brought his team level at the start of the second half.

Particularly disappointing for Liverpool was their failure to take advantage of the ideal start provided for them by Michael Owen's neat chip after only three minutes.

The Kop's reaction was significant, and they were clearly frustrated by their team's inability to dominate from that point.

"I was disappointed for the players," said an unhappy Gérard Houllier, the Liverpool manager. "We were trying to score goals but it's hard to be positive when you haven't won any of your last four games."

In the enduring belief that improved results were only a matter of time from materialising, Houllier had named an unchanged team for the third successive match.

City's line-up contained a strong Liverpool presence, with David James, Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman all returning to Anfield.

In Keegan's increasingly desperate search for a League victory, he experimented with a trio of central defenders. The experiment went awry within three minutes.

Owen's first goal since the autumn was facilitated by Dietmar Hamann's pass and finished with some comfort. Owen evaded Richard Dunne's challenge before lifting the ball over James.

At the other end, Wright-Phillips frequently offered support to Jon Macken and Fowler, and if his crossing lacked quality, some of his express approach play was extremely admirable.

Keegan must have made a belated impression on his players during the break because they were level within five minutes of the restart.

McManaman finally found some space, picking the ball up in midfield. He spotted the run of Wright-Phillips, who steadied himself before shooting low and hard past the goalkeeper, Jerzy Dudek, into the far corner.

They were to be level for all of 60 seconds. On Liverpool's very next attack, Owen ran at their suspect defence and when the ball broke loose, Gerrard was on hand to restore his side's advantage.

Liverpool should have been further ahead shortly after but McManaman cleared off the line twice in a matter of seconds, first from Anthony Le Tallec's header and then from Owen's follow-up.

"If we play like we did in the second half, we'll be fine," Keegan said. "If we play like we did in the first half, we're in a relegation dogfight."

Liverpool (4-4-2): Dudek 5; Finnan 5, Henchoz 5, Hyypia 6, Carragher 5; Le Tallec 3 (Murphy, 5, 68), Hamann 6, Gerrard 7, Cheyrou 5 (Biscan 5, 60); Kewell 2 (Heskey 5, 59), Owen 6. Substitutes not used: Kirkland (gk), Sinama-Pongolle.

Manchester City (3-5-2): James 5; Dunne 5, Van Buyten 5, Distin 5; Wright-Phillips 8, Bosvelt 5, Reyna 4 (Barton 5, 68), McManaman 5, Tarnat 5; Fowler 4, Macken 4 (Sibierski, 77). Substitutes not used: Arason (gk), Sun Jihai, Elliott.

Referee: M Riley (Leeds) 5.