Haaland’s penalty in second-half stoppage time kept City’s challenge for the Premier League title alive. Chaos wins 2-1 Challenge Liverpool away.

Haaland’s penalty sealed a comeback win for Pep Guardiola’s side in an explosive game of football at Anfield on Sunday and moved them back to six points behind top-placed Arsenal.

City’s title prospects looked bleak in the 74th minute when Dominik Szoboszlai hit a stunning long-range free-kick against the post.

Even if Bernardo Silva equalized 10 minutes later, second-placed City still looked to be eight points adrift of the leaders at the end of the game.

But in the 93rd minute, after Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson brought down Matheus Nunez in the penalty area, Haaland fired a penalty kick into the bottom corner, sending the away fans crazy.

Manchester City substitute Rayan Cherki then scored from the halfway line, but VAR dismissed the goal and Szoboszlai fouled Haaland as the ball crossed the line and sent him off.

The two clubs have combined to win the last eight English Premier League titles. But both showed flaws that opened the door for Arsenal to potentially end their long wait to be crowned champions again.

Haaland has scored just once from the air in his last 13 games and the Norwegian, uncharacteristically lacking in confidence, had his best chance in the opening two minutes of the first half.

Silva’s clever pass broke down Liverpool’s defence, but Haaland’s shot was unconvincing under pressure from Milos Kerquez and Alisson Becker fired low from the left.

Haaland once again shot directly at Alisson after 10 attempts in the first half but no breakthrough.

A sluggish second half has been a consistent feature of City’s season, with the visitors slumping again in the second half until a late snafu saved their title challenge.

After Liverpool’s lightning break, Hugo Ekitic should have opened the scoring for his side with a completely wrong header on the hour mark.

Marc Guehi had a lucky escape when he dragged down Mo Salah outside the penalty area and received only a yellow card.

But it was City who were furious at the free-kick that led to the opener, with Ryan Gravenburch going down on minimal contact.

When Arsenal visited Anfield in August, Szoboszlai scored the only goal with a stunning free-kick, which he struck just inside the post before scoring again.

However, the Hungarian went from hero to villain when City equalized with six minutes remaining.

Szoboszlai moved in from Silva’s position to meet Haaland’s header for City’s first second-half goal in the Premier League this year.

Alisson then tackled Matheus Nunez and won a penalty, but Haaland kept his cool to give City the lead.

Pep Guardiola’s side still needed a fine save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to keep out Alexis McAllister’s shot.

With Alisson keeping the lead from the corner, Cherki took aim from the center line and rolled the ball into an empty net, leaving Liverpool’s goal open.

However, when the ball was slowly shot towards the goal, a scuffle between Haaland and Szoboszlai resulted in the goal being disallowed. Manchester City was awarded a free kick and the Liverpool players gave the marching orders.

Silva was named man of the match and told Sky Sports it was a crucial win for City.

“I feel like the whole team knew before the game that if we lost, the title race might be over. We felt like we needed to win,” he said.

“The hope is there and we will fight until the end. We need to keep doing the job we haven’t done recently.”

Liverpool boss Arne Slott said he was disappointed at the lack of results and claimed several key decisions went against his side.

“You can’t compare this game to three or four months ago. We’ve improved a lot but we need to improve our results,” he told Sky.

“A lot of times this year we didn’t get what I thought we deserved and this is another one.”

Crystal Palace ends Brighton’s woes

Earlier on Sunday, Crystal Palace ended a 12-match winless run in all competitions with a 1-0 win over rivals Brighton.

Ismaila Sarr scored the only goal of the game at the Amex Stadium to help Crystal Palace move nine points clear of the relegation zone and leapfrog Brighton into 13th place.

“It’s an incredible atmosphere and a way to start my Palace career, winning in the derby,” said Palace’s record signing Jorgen Strand Larsen, who joined from Wolves on deadline day. “Winning is really important because there was a period without winning before I joined.

“This is the most intense match I’ve ever played, so I’m tired right now, but it’s worth it.”

Sarr scored the winning goal in the 61st minute after sprinting and firing past goalkeeper Bart Verbergen. It was his second goal in as many games and his 10th of the season.