Liverpool 0-3 Man City: Why the Premier League lost at Anfield as Enzo Maresca's side show defiance after guilty verdict

Manchester City ran out 3-0 winners over Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, collecting all three points against the backdrop of their guilty verdict.

Enzo Maresca's Citizens were booed throughout the game, and faced chants from the home crowd labelling them cheaters, a sentiment echoed by fans of clubs up and down the country watching on television.

Liverpool were just about edging the hard-fought contest prior to Ryan Gravenberch's controversial sending off around the hour mark, which allowed the visitors to find the space needed to score twice within six minutes of his dismissal.

Rayan Cherki later added a third in front of a jubilant away section, whose celebrations took on a bizarre tone considering the shadow hanging over the match, the extent of their club's rule-breaking, and their impending punishment.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look at why Man City's victory on Sunday reflects poorly on the Premier League.

Liverpool 0-3 Man City: Will the Premier League points count?

Prior to kick off, there was a sense that viewers were keen to watch Man City lose in order to see their guilty verdict served in a material way, but when they took the lead, a unique atmosphere formed.

The Liverpool fans in the stadium, who were previously energised for the showdown, became almost disinterested in seeing the contest continue, feeling that any competitive edge the match had was undermined by one side's established cheating.

Reds captain Virgil van Dijk attempted to rally his nine teammates for the fight, but the pervasive meaninglessness of the game in that state was difficult to shake.

If City are eventually punished, they are likely to see no benefit from seizing three points at Anfield on Sunday, though Andoni Iraola's side will have three fewer than they could have had, regardless.

Liverpool's fate was sealed by Ryan Gravenberch's red card

Receiving red cards is a normal part of a football match, and questionable decisions leading to a dismissal has been a common occurrence in the Premier League over the years, yet Gravenberch's exit from the game came with poor optics.

Man City may be about to receive a major punishment from the league, but their scandalous accounting enabled them to steal countless moments from others, and the division's failure to act at the time caused lasting damage that will not be undone.

In the period that the Citizens' financial wrongdoing relates to, Liverpool missed out on lifting the Premier League title with Steven Gerrard as captain in 2013-14 as they finished runners-up to the Mancunians.

That success would have changed what was a haunting period for the Reds icon into a moment of triumph to remember, but the reality is that City claimed the crown as part of the groundwork that would lead to their dominance under Pep Guardiola in later years.

In isolation, Gravenberch being sent off would have been a standard, frustrating event for the team that was easily forgotten, but with the backdrop of Sunday's game as context, it presented as a microcosm of City's wrongs and the league's failings: The officials gifted the Sky Blues an advantage that allowed them to beat Liverpool during what was an otherwise even contest that Iraola's side were edging.

No remorse from Man City to the Premier League

The weekend's result will be discussed far less than the circumstances surrounding the fixture, and one point that is sure to stick out is the fact that Man City's representatives - from the board down to the management, players and even fans - were defiant.

It is natural for supporters to back their club in times of crisis, but the jubilant celebrations from the away section at Anfield seemed in poor taste.

Knowing that the Sky Blues were 'punching down' from a position of dominance that was established through systematic cheating did not dampen the spirits of the travelling Cityzens, who seemed to feel that their state-backed team were somehow the victims of this scenario.

When each of Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Cherki celebrated their goals by tapping the badge on their jerseys in a show of solidarity, the crowd grew emboldened in their defiance.

After such a display, it would be fair to say that there is little public respect for the division's rule makers, or fear of the potential impact of the guilty verdict.

However, the Premier League itself must bear blame for that insolence, given that such a culture was enabled by the soft punishments meted out to the likes of Chelsea in years gone by, as well as the fact City were allowed to continue unimpeded for so long.