The biggest fixture of this weekend’s Premier League takes place at Anfield where Liverpool take on defending champions Manchester City in what promises to be an exciting battle.
Venue: Anfield (Liverpool)
Key Statistics
Liverpool are unbeaten in league games (W12, D4) – the longest streak across England’s top four divisions.
The Reds have scored the most goals in the Premier League this season (15 goals).
They have scored 26 in the nine competitive matches they have played this season and have conceded seven.
Manchester City have the best defensive record in the league this season-one goal conceded.
They have scored 24 goals in ten competitive games this season and have conceded eight times.
Head to head
Manchester City have the better head-to-head record in the last five Premier League meetings between both teams. The visitors have three wins in that period while Liverpool have won just once (D1).
Latest Performances in all competitions
Liverpool: W-D-W-W-W
Manchester City: L-W-W-D-W
Liverpool
Liverpool will welcome Manchester City to Anfield as the only team without a defeat in the Premier League this season. They sit top of the standings and will look to preserve their unbeaten run in the league, but face a mighty Man City team ready to knock them off the perch.
But the Reds will enter this ready for action after following up their 3-3 draw with Brentford last weekend with a huge 5-1 win over Porto in the Champions League in midweek.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are unbeaten in 16 league games heading into this game and are looking hungry and eager to go the distance again this season.
However, only a win can guarantee that they enter the international break top of the table and they will know that only a perfect performance at Anfield can give them the needed three points.
Although they will be disappointed with last week’s result as they conceded three goals against Brentford. But they showed during the week that on their day, they have a very potent attack and they can outscore any team if given the oppurtunity.
Thiago Alcantara, Harvey Elliot and Trent Alexander-Arnold are big injury absentees for Jurgen Klopp. But the German can call upon Naby Keita, who returned to the side after a three-week injury layoff.
Possible Liverpool starting line-ups
Alisson Becker; James Milner, Joel Matip, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Curtis Jones, Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane,
Manchester City
After their disappointing loss to PSG in the Champions League on Tuesday, Manchester City will look to bounce back when they travel to Anfield in this top of the table clash.
The ‘Cityzens’ defeated Chelsea last week to propel themselves to second place in the league—one point behind Liverpool.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola will see this as an opportunity to climb above Liverpool in the league standings, and will be desperate to get just his second win at Anfield.
But he knows how hard it is to play on this ground and how difficult Klopp’s team could be having lost to the German on eight occasions—the most against any single manager in all competitions.
But with a tight defence that has kept five consecutive clean sheets in the league, the Spaniard will fancy his chances of beating their rivals.
Meanwhile, Ilkay Gundogan and Oleksandr Zinchenko are the only injury absentees for Guardiola this week.
Possible Manchester City starting line-ups
Ederson, Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne; Jack Grealish, Ferran Torres, Raheem Sterling.
Prediction
Games between Liverpool and Manchester City have proven difficult to predict in recent seasons, judging by the quality both teams possess and the mutual respect and rivalry they have built over the years.
But for this weekend clash, Liverpool seems to be slightly ahead of their rivals both in terms of momentum and quality. They have a strong defence and have a sharp attack. Whereas City have struggled to score sometimes and have conceded five goals in two Champions League games.
