Jurgen Klopp said his Liverpool team likely would not have beaten Manchester City even if they had been reduced to 10 men.

City were fortunate that Rodri escaped a second yellow card in the first half after a cynical foul on Cody Gakpo, before Pep Guardiola's side went on to thrash the visitors 4-1 to record their fourth league win in a row.

Mohamed Salah had given Liverpool an early lead before goals from Julian Alvarez, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish emphatically turned things around.

Klopp, though, does not feel Rodri escaping a red card was too much of a pivotal moment.

"Could [Rodri] have got a second yellow? Yes, probably, but he will not get it now," Klopp said at a post-match press conference.

"I'm not sure we would have won today against 10 men, to be honest."

Liverpool toiled at the Etihad Stadium, particularly after falling behind in the first minute of the second half, only having four shots to City's 17 overall and having less than 25 per cent possession in the second half.

"I think around four performances we were OK," Klopp suggested.

"The two midfielders, [Jordan Henderson] and [Fabinho] worked a lot, tried to close gaps, Cody especially in possession, and [Alisson] of course, then that's obviously very difficult, if you want to get something from here then you have to have 11... 14-15 players have to be on top of their game.

"After being 3-1 down, it's anyway difficult to come back here... we had one opportunity for 3-2 with Robbo down the left side... but apart from that City could do what they want because the spaces were too big, so we were rather lucky they only scored one more."

Liverpool have already lost five league games in 2023, one more than in the entirety of 2022, and face Chelsea away and Arsenal at home in their next two outings as they look to get their top-four hopes back on track.