A review of Sunday's action in the Barclays Premier League so far as Manchester City draw 2-2 against Liverpool.
Carlos Tevez's 100th goal in English football came gift wrapped via an errant Martin Skrtel backpass and proved enough to earn Manchester City a 2-2 with a Liverpool side who will aggrieved at not taking all three points from an engrossing Anfield clash.
It was a case of hero to zero for Skrtel for it was the centre-half's explosive header from a Steven Gerrard corner that gave Liverpool a deserved half-time lead, in a performance that saw the first green shoots of a purported Reds revolution to be overseen by Brendan Rodgers in full bloom.
After the interval it was Liverpool that made most of the running, only to be caught out when a handling error on Jose Reina's part allowed Yaya Toure to tap-in Tevez's right wing delivery from close range.
This was far from the Liverpool side that was so flat the previous week at West Brom and within three minutes, in the 66th of a nip-and-tuck second period, they were back in the lead when Luis Suarez swept in a sumptuous direct free-kick.
It was, though, another Liverpool error that got City back into the contest as Skrtel played a blind pass across his own goal to allow Tevez to nip in and round Reina for a goal that earned City a point that their at times disappointing efforts barely deserved.
In the day's other match, Arsenal failed to score for the second successive game as they drew 0-0 against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.
Having drawn a blank in their season opener against Sunderland at the Emirates, the Gunners dominated possession without truly testing home goalkeeper Asmir Begovic on Sunday afternoon.
Arsene Wenger's men had 16 attempts at goal, with only three of those on target, and forced 12 corners to the home side's zero, but the constant threat of playmaker Santi Cazorla came to nothing.
The Gunners were forced to make a change in goal with Vito Mannone coming in for rib injury victim Wojciech Szczesny, with the stand-in shot-stopper coping well with what he had to deal with.
Olivier Giroud went close with an audacious attempted lob from out wide on the left late on, but he would have been better off passing to Aaron Ramsey through the middle.
Carlos Tevez's 100th goal in English football came gift wrapped via an errant Martin Skrtel backpass and proved enough to earn Manchester City a 2-2 with a Liverpool side who will aggrieved at not taking all three points from an engrossing Anfield clash.
It was a case of hero to zero for Skrtel for it was the centre-half's explosive header from a Steven Gerrard corner that gave Liverpool a deserved half-time lead, in a performance that saw the first green shoots of a purported Reds revolution to be overseen by Brendan Rodgers in full bloom.
After the interval it was Liverpool that made most of the running, only to be caught out when a handling error on Jose Reina's part allowed Yaya Toure to tap-in Tevez's right wing delivery from close range.
This was far from the Liverpool side that was so flat the previous week at West Brom and within three minutes, in the 66th of a nip-and-tuck second period, they were back in the lead when Luis Suarez swept in a sumptuous direct free-kick.
It was, though, another Liverpool error that got City back into the contest as Skrtel played a blind pass across his own goal to allow Tevez to nip in and round Reina for a goal that earned City a point that their at times disappointing efforts barely deserved.
In the day's other match, Arsenal failed to score for the second successive game as they drew 0-0 against Stoke at the Britannia Stadium.
Having drawn a blank in their season opener against Sunderland at the Emirates, the Gunners dominated possession without truly testing home goalkeeper Asmir Begovic on Sunday afternoon.
Arsene Wenger's men had 16 attempts at goal, with only three of those on target, and forced 12 corners to the home side's zero, but the constant threat of playmaker Santi Cazorla came to nothing.
The Gunners were forced to make a change in goal with Vito Mannone coming in for rib injury victim Wojciech Szczesny, with the stand-in shot-stopper coping well with what he had to deal with.
Olivier Giroud went close with an audacious attempted lob from out wide on the left late on, but he would have been better off passing to Aaron Ramsey through the middle.