The highly-anticipated clash between Premier League’s top two teams Manchester City and Liverpool comes up on Sunday as both sides meet at the Etihad in what could determine the direction of the title this season.
Venue: Etihad Stadium (Manchester)
Key Statistics
Manchester City have kept six clean sheets in their last eight games.
The Cityzens have scored in their last eleven home head-to-head meetings with the Reds.
Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in their last eight games (six wins and two draws).
Liverpool have won their last eight away games.
The visitors are one of two teams in Europe’s top-five leagues yet to trail at half-time this season.
They have kept seven clean sheets in their last ten games in all competitions.
Head to head
Liverpool have 20 wins in 49 head-to-head meetings with Manchester City who have nine wins and ten draws in that period.
Latest performances in all competitions
Manchester City: W-W-W-D-D
Liverpool: W-W-W-W-W
Manchester City
Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side will look to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to four points when they welcome Jurgen Klopp’s hot-chasers to the Etihad on Sunday afternoon.
The hosts at one point this season were 14 points ahead of their fierce rivals, but a couple of dropped points against Crystal Palace (draw) and Tottenham (loss), and Liverpool’s winning run reduced that lead at the top to one point ahead of this match.
But City will be confident of staying ahead of their second-placed rivals when both sides meet at the Etihad by winning this tie.
After dropping points in two consecutive games just before the international break, Guardiola’s side come into this game on a run of three consecutive wins. Their last outing was a 1-0 win over a plucky Atletico Madrid side in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.
Given that they have kept six clean sheets in their last eight games, the defending champions will fancy their chances of recording a low-scoring affair against their rampant visitors.
Meanwhile, defender Ruben Dias remains the only major injury absentee for Pep Guardiola.
Possible Manchester City starting line-up
Ederson Moraes, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling.
Injured: Ruben Dias
Doubtful: Cole Palmer
Suspended: Benjamin Mendy
Liverpool
After their 3-1 win over Benfica in Lisbon in the first leg of the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League, Liverpool will turn their attention to the Premier League, where they are desperate to get the win that will take them to the top of the Premier League table.
The Reds can leapfrog Manchester City to the top of the table if they win this game; something that will be considered a miracle considering that they were out of the title race before December.
They come into this tie on a run of eight successive away wins–a first in the club’s entire history. Since dropping points in a 2-2 draw with Chelsea in January, Jurgen Klopp’s men have won ten of the PL games they have played. In fact, they have only lost one game since that draw with Chelsea, winning 17 out of the 20 games they have played since then (two draws).
They are arguably the most in-form team in Europe at the moment, as evidenced by their five consecutive wins and four clean sheets in the last five games.
Their strength this season is in scoring first and whoever scores the first goal may well decide the colour of the PL trophy’s ribbons come May.
Man City have won every league game when they’ve taken the lead this season (23wins) while Liverpool are also yet to experience defeat from such a position (22 wins and five draws).
Possible Liverpool starting line-up
Alisson Becker; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Diogo Jota, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane.
Injured: None
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Manchester 1-2 Liverpool