Maresca's Manchester City silence Anfield with 3-0 win days after 114-charge verdict

Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City produced a composed 3-0 victory at Anfield in their first Premier League fixture since being found guilty of 114 rule charges, with Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all on the scoresheet to maintain City’s perfect start to the season.

The result is City’s joint-biggest Premier League win at Anfield and came against a backdrop of Liverpool supporters chanting that City were cheats throughout the match. Maresca acknowledged the difficulty of the occasion but insisted his players handled the external pressure with maturity.

“It was not easy for the players after the last two or three weeks but they dealt with the situation very well,” Maresca said. “I said during the week we need to learn how to deal with the outside noise because of the situation. The noise will always be there so we need to learn how to deal with that but at the same time we need to try and bring our noise, which is win games, which is what we have done today.”

The City manager made clear that winning is the only response he expects from his squad when facing hostile atmospheres on the road. “All the away games are going to be with noise so we need to learn how to deal with the noise. And at the same time, we need to make our noise. Our noise is we’re singing at the end, our fans, and this has to be our target at the moment.”

City still face potentially severe sanctions following the guilty verdict on the 114 charges, with punishments ranging from a points deduction to expulsion from the Premier League remaining possible outcomes. Despite that uncertainty hanging over the club, Maresca’s side showed no sign of distraction, with the three goals and a clean sheet at one of English football’s most demanding venues underlining the squad’s focus.

The win keeps City with a 100 percent record in the Premier League this season and sends a clear message to rivals that the off-field turbulence has not yet disrupted results on the pitch.