Liverpool v Man City live thriller: Salah answers Haaland in title race chaos

Kick-off! As of today, 2026-02-08, the pitch is on fire... The Football results today are absolutely wild, and nowhere hotter than Anfield where Liverpool and Manchester City have just served up a Premier League live epic that could reshape the title race. Erling Haaland on the scoresheet, Mohamed Salah with the response, and a late VAR twist that has everyone screaming at their screens. If you blinked, you missed a moment.

Football Results Today: Liverpool v Man City steals the spotlight

When you talk about Football results today, this one jumps straight to the top. Liverpool 2–2 Manchester City at Anfield in a game that swung like a pendulum. City struck first through Erling Haaland, who bullied his way between the centre-backs and smashed a low finish into the bottom corner. Classic Haaland: one touch to set, one to bury. Ice cold.

Liverpool hit back just before the break. After a spell of pressure, Mohamed Salah peeled off the back post, met a whipped cross with his left foot and drilled it across the keeper. It was vintage Salah – sharp movement, ruthless finish. Anfield exploded, and suddenly the whole feel of the match flipped.

Second half? Chaos. City reclaimed the lead when Phil Foden ghosted into the box, collected a cut-back from Bernardo Silva and slotted into the far corner. The composure was unreal – one dummy, one side-foot, all the time in the world in a crowded area. But Liverpool just refused to die. Darwin Núñez, who had missed a big chance earlier, rose to meet a teasing cross and powered in a header for 2–2, thundering it in off the bar. Redemption in the loudest way possible.

Star watch: Heroes, flops and big-club pressure

Erling Haaland was a machine as always. Beyond the goal, he bullied the back line, dragged defenders out of position and repeatedly opened lanes for Kevin De Bruyne and Foden to drive into. You can feel defenders tense up every time he runs in behind. He could have had a second after the break when he lashed a shot inches wide – the kind of margin that decides titles.

Mohamed Salah answered that star power. A goal, constant pressing, and that trademark cut-in-from-the-right threat. Whenever Liverpool broke, he was the out ball and the danger magnet. Late on, he had a curling effort fingertipped over the bar – you could almost hear half of Anfield celebrating before the keeper saved it.

Some players felt the heat. A normally calm Virgil van Dijk had his hands full with Haaland, losing him on the opener and nearly paying again on a second-half corner. For City, one of the talking points will be Rúben Dias and the penalty drama: in stoppage time he went to ground in the box, the ball struck his arm, and VAR took an age to decide. In the end, no penalty – and Anfield absolutely lost it. That decision is going to run all night on social feeds.

Title race tremors & the live table

This draw doesn't end anything, but it tilts everything. Instead of one side landing a knockout punch, both Liverpool and City stagger away still within touching distance at the top of the football league table. Liverpool will feel they could have snatched all three with that late VAR call and Núñez's earlier miss, while City might quietly be relieved to escape Anfield with a point after coming under siege in the final 20 minutes.

With other Football results today piling in from across the league, the margins are razor thin. A single win or slip now means everything – especially with both clubs still juggling Champions League news and packed fixture lists.

What does this mean for the title race? Click here for the live standings

Other key Football results today

Elsewhere in the Premier League live action, the goals kept coming. At the Emirates, Arsenal edged a tense 1–0 win, with Bukayo Saka slotting home the decisive strike after a slick move and a clever assist from Martin Ødegaard. Saka's finish was cool, low into the corner, and he spent the rest of the game relentlessly driving at his full-back. He might not have lit up the stats sheet beyond the goal, but his constant aggression kept Arsenal pinned high and in control.

Over in Manchester, United grabbed a much-needed 2–1 victory at Old Trafford. Marcus Rashford opened the scoring with a rifled shot from the edge of the box, while Bruno Fernandes buried a second-half penalty after a clumsy challenge in the area. Defensively, though, United were shaky again – they conceded late from a set piece, leaving fans wondering how this team ever closes out games without drama.

Across the continent, the big names kept delivering. In Spain, Jude Bellingham bagged another goal for Real Madrid, ghosting into the box to tap in from close range after a neat move down the left. He then nearly turned provider with a slick through ball that should have been finished. In France, Kylian Mbappé hammered in a trademark near-post rocket and added an assist with a cut-back for a teammate to sweep home. When you scroll through soccer news tonight, those two names are going to be everywhere again.

My take: this felt like a semi-final in February

From a young reporter's seat, this didn't feel like just another league game – it felt like a Champions League knockout played in the middle of the domestic calendar. The intensity, the duels, the quality of the top scorers today – it was ridiculous. In my opinion, Liverpool will regret not going even more ruthless once they had City wobbling after Núñez's equaliser. The crowd was electric, City looked rattled for a spell, and that was the moment to go for the jugular.

For City, you can't keep relying on Haaland to fix everything. He did his job again, but when the press isn't clean and the midfield loses control, even his goals can't fully carry them. On the flip side, the fact that they still came away with a point from that atmosphere shows why they're always right in the mix for the title.

If this is a preview of what's coming in the run-in and in Champions League news later this season, then buckle up. The football league table is going to swing week by week, and performances like today from Salah, Haaland, Saka, Bellingham and Mbappé are exactly why you never dare to look away.

Closing whistle: stay locked on the standings

So, in the big picture of Football results today, we got drama, world-class goals, VAR fury, and a title race that just got even tighter instead of clearer. You couldn't script this stuff better. If you're trying to figure out who really holds the advantage after this crazy round of fixtures, you need to live inside that table and those stats.

Check full stats & standings now

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