Owen hat-trick dispels doubts

Manchester City 0 Liverpool 3

It was only a matter of time before Michael Owen made someone pay for his frustration this season, and who better than Manchester City? Maine Road's masters of the cock-up filled the roles of fall guys to perfection yesterday, allowing the Liverpool striker his first goals from open play this season.

Three in all, and although the first was gift-wrapped straight from City's scrapbook of howlers, the second and third were glorious concoctions of Owen at his best; pace, precision, touch and power. A crisis of confidence? You can safely consign obituaries about the European footballer of the year to the dustbin.

The hat-trick has revived his strike-rate to nearly one every other start this season, four from nine, and from being described as the weakest link he is suddenly transformed into the main reason why Liverpool will be Arsenal's most potent rivals this season. As for City, they have not won for four matches and there is just a faint suggestion of alarm.

"Michael's first goal seemed to mean a lot to himself and the rest of the players," said Gérard Houllier, the Liverpool manager. "A lot of people went to congratulate him and I think the physio, the doctor and the rest of the staff would have joined them if they could. His feet are quick, his mind is quick and he has gained awareness. He just needed confidence."

You can safely assume Owen, who was stopped only by Peter Schmeichel's legs on two other occasions, is brimming full of it now. His goals ended City's unbeaten home run of 23 matches and secured Liverpool's first success at Maine Road since March 1991 and, frankly, the result rarely looked in doubt once City started by committing a series of errors in the fifth minute. They began when Jihai Sun tried an idiotic backheader that Owen pounced on and would have scored from had his shot not cannoned into Schmeichel.

Instead of making the most of the reprieve, City compounded the fault from the corner when panic spread from Kevin Horlock to Niclas Jensen, the latter thumping his attempted clearance into Steve Howey. The ball could have gone anywhere but it rebounded to Owen, who thumped the ball into the roof of the net with an emphatic swing of his left foot.

It could be argued that it was a simple goal, but Darren Huckerby made it look a lot more difficult seven minutes later when, from a similar position, he dallied too long and the ball was cleared. Even so, City entered a purple patch in which Huckerby's pass-cum-shot raced across the face of the goal and Anelka brushed the post with a 36th-minute drive from 30 yards.

City going forward are a very different proposition to defending, however, and Owen almost got another when he skipped around Sun and was stopped for a second time by Schmeichel.

City had escaped, but with Owen in this mood the reprieve was unlikely to last and after 64 minutes it duly ended. He had been waiting on the shoulders of City's back line all afternoon and when Steven Gerrard slipped a pass through, he was away like a sprinter. With impeccable control Owen slipped away from Sun and tucked his shot inside the post.

Gerrard had been the provider then and was again in the last minute. Owen dipped his shoulder, Sun was reduced to a swaying training cone and the England striker fired in off a post. "They got off to a dream start and then made it difficult for us but that's the Premiership," Kevin Keegan, the City manager, said. "We got a 3-0 battering and I don't think we deserved it. It's a tough league."

Manchester City 0 Liverpool 3
Owen 4, 64, 89

Half-time: 0-1 Attendance: 35,131