Liverpool avenges Capital One Cup final loss by thumping Manchester City in Premier League clash at Anfield

LIVERPOOL has avenged its weekend loss to Manchester City in the League Cup final in some style, winning the immediate return match at Anfield.

Liverpool's English midfielder Adam Lallana (C) celebrates with Liverpool's Croatian defender Dejan Lovren (L) and Liverpool's English defender Nathaniel Clyne after scoring the opening goal of the English Premier League football match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Anfield in Liverpool, northwest England on March 2, 2016. / AFP / Paul ELLIS / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club/league/player publications. /

LIVERPOOL avenged its weekend loss to Manchester City in the League Cup final in some style on Wednesday, winning an immediate return match 3-0 in the Premier League to damage the visitors’ title ambitions.

City’s winless run at Anfield extended to 13 years after conceding two goals in seven first-half minutes from Adam Lallana and former City player James Milner. Roberto Firmino added the third goal in the 57th minute with another clinical finish, as Liverpool’s pressing game proved too much for City.

Fourth-place City is now 10 points behind league leader Leicester, having played a game less, and is now starting to look over its shoulder in the race to secure a Champions League qualification place for next season. Manchester United is tied on points in fifth.

It proved a miserable return to Anfield for City winger Raheem Sterling, who left Liverpool in acrimonious circumstances in the last off-season.

His first action was getting bashed to the ground by marker Jon Flanagan in the opening minute and his night didn’t get much better. He received regular abusive chants from The Kop, flashed a shot way wide in the 27th, and was substituted at halftime.

By then, Liverpool - refreshed by five changes from the cup final - was 2-0 up from the first two clear-cut chances the team created on a blustery evening.

Lallana, one of the players recalled, picked up the ball in lots of space 35 meters out, advanced and struck a low, left-foot shot that dribbled into the corner from outside the area in the 34th. Milner, who left City for Anfield last summer, doubled the lead in the 41st by running onto an inside pass from Firmino, piercing the heart of City’s defense and toe-poking a shot beyond the stranded Hart.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini introduced forwards Wilfried Bony and Kelechi Iheanacho from the bench, but it left the visitors open and Liverpool capitalized.

Lallana was the instigator of the third goal, running unchecked to the edge of the area before slipping a short pass to Firmino, who curled a finish into the corner.

City didn’t create a chance of note in the second half on another match to forget at Anfield, and has now lost three league games in a row.

Originally published as Liverpool avenges Capital One Cup final loss by thumping Manchester City in Premier League clash at Anfield