The match was very tight from the start of the game although Manchester City was able to dominate the game but Liverpool was actually more effective in finishing the goal of the existing opportunities, Haaland's absence in the match made the Manchester City attack very dull,
Manchester City sold the second option of a striker that they have to Atletico Madrid, and they depended on Haaland all season long to deliver. There was no way he was not going to get injured at some point from starting and playing all the games for Manchester City this season in all the competitions. Also, with how disorganized Manchester City are in defense currently, this will not be their last loss. Finishing in top four may be even difficult.
Yes, you are actually right, finishing in the top four will be difficult if they continue losing games like this because if other teams around them keeps on winning games and they are not winning, it would be very difficult for them to claw their way back into the top four considering the fact that they aren't that good like before that they can win ten games straight, so in as much as they are not in their best form now, they really have to stay close to the top four, so that they can sneak into the top at the very end or they can secure a place in the top four convincingly, because it would actually be a disaster for the citizens not to qualify for the uefa champions league, they really need to, so that it would be easy for them to sign top quality players in the summer transfer window.
Then as for their performance yesterday, truly they were terrible at the back, and Liverpool would have scored more if they were more clinical in front of goal, because honestly speaking, if expected Liverpool to score more, but it wasn't meant to be, the most important thing was to secure the three point which they did, and the most important thing that buttress this winning was arsenal losing to westham united.