In an extraordinary encounter at Anfield, Manchester City closed the gap on Arsenal back to six points, with Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboszlai (£6.7m) heavily involved.
Here are our Scout Notes from Merseyside.
SZOBOSZLAI BAN: HOW MANY MATCHES WILL HE MISS?
Szoboszlai is out of Gameweek 26.
The Hungarian, who is owned by 6.3% of Fantasy managers, will miss Liverpool’s trip to Sunderland, having been sent off in Sunday’s defeat to Man City.
It was a roller coaster afternoon for Szoboszlai, who, in addition to his late red card, played at right-back, scored a wonderful free-kick and banked defensive contribution (DefCon)/bonus points.
#LIVMCI – 90+10’ VAR OVERTURN
After VAR review, the referee overturned the original decision of goal to Manchester City.
Referee announcement: “After review, there is a careless foul by Erling Haaland, that pulls the shirt of Dominic Szoboszlai. Prior to that, Szoboszlai…
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) February 8, 2026
The denial of an obvious goalscoring opportunity (DOGSO) only carries a one-match ban, at least, so Szoboszlai will be back for Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 27.
LIVERPOOL’S RIGHT-BACK PROBLEM
With Szoboszlai banned, Arne Slot faces a selection headache at right-back in Gameweek 26.
Jeremie Frimpong (£5.7m) and Conor Bradley (£4.9m) have already been ruled out of the trip to Sunderland, while Joe Gomez (£4.9m) remains a doubt.
“Jeremie [Frimpong] for sure not. We knew this when he got injured, that it was a few weeks. To be honest, I don’t expect Joe [Gomez] to be back as well, but you never know. But then he is back after being out for three weeks, would you play him then? You say no, but you don’t have to make the decision – I have to make the decision. Let’s see what decision we make. We have other players that can play that position as well. Dom [Szoboszlai] – again – played a very good game in that position but unfortunately he is unavailable for Wednesday.” – Arne Slot
Curtis Jones (£5.4m) has previously filled in that position before, with Wataru Endo (£4.9m) and youngster Calvin Ramsey (£3.8m) other potential options if Gomez does indeed miss out.
HAALAND HAUL
After sitting out the midweek win over Newcastle United, Erling Haaland (£14.9m) returned to Pep Guardiola’s starting XI at Anfield.
And just when it looked like an attacking return would elude him, the Norwegian burst into life with a late haul.
Flanked by Antoine Semenyo (£7.9m) and Omar Marmoush (£8.3m) in Guardiola’s fluid 4-3-3 setup, Haaland provided a headed assist for the impressive Bernardo Silva (£6.2m), before tucking away a penalty in injury time.
“At the end we were guided by our incredible player, one of the best ever to play or train – our captain Bernardo. We follow him, I follow him too. He puts the team in front of himself. He does things through his own example. Everybody follows him, me the first. He scored the first one from the Erling assist, and made the assist for Matheus for the penalty.” – Pep Guardiola
Matheus Nunes (£5.4m) was bundled over in the box to win that penalty, claiming his sixth assist of the season, the joint-most of any FPL defender.
Above: Defenders sorted by assists (A) in 2025/26
Elsewhere, Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) lined up in central midfield, with Tijjani Reijnders (£5.1m), Phil Foden (£8.3m) and Rayan Cherki (£6.5m) all named among the substitutes.
As for Liverpool, after a disjointed first-half display, they upped the tempo after the break and immediately improved.
Hugo Ekitike (£8.9m) missed a sitter, heading wide after a lovely cross by Mohamed Salah (£14.0m), who notably produced a match-high five goal attempts, while Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6m) denied Alexis Mac Allister (£6.2m) with a superb late save.
But having fallen to defeat, Liverpool are now four points behind fifth-placed Chelsea, so they have a lot of work to do to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Their next match is a tricky one, too, as they travel to Sunderland, who are unbeaten at home in 2025/26.
KHUSANOV LATEST/DIAS RETURNS
Abdukodir Khusanov (£5.4m) took a blow to the head at Anfield on Sunday, and in a concussion substitution, was taken off just after the hour mark.
An early doubt for Gameweek 26, the centre-half was replaced by Ruben Dias (£5.5m), who returned to the City squad in midweek as an unused sub.
The return of the Portuguese should provide an immediate boost: City kept four clean sheets in the five league matches prior to his injury.
City now host Fulham at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, before another home match against Salford City in the FA Cup fourth round.
