MY ACCOUNT
Pep Guardiola proudly declared Manchester City and Liverpool have “raised the bar” in the Premier League, and on Sunday the north-west giants collide in a game that could have a telling impact on the destiny of the trophy.
It falls inconveniently between high-stakes Champions League quarter-final games, although the fact both City and Liverpool are ahead after the first legs of their ties somewhat mitigates that pressure.
Given City hold just a one-point lead over Liverpool with eight rounds of games remaining, a win for either at the Etihad Stadium would be a huge leap nearer to the title.
The prospect of Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp directing in their animated manner from the touchline, as their star-packed teams pull no punches on the pitch, makes this an unmissable game.
Ahead of kick-off in the biggest club game in Europe this weekend, we take a look at some key pointers.
City start as favourites for a reason
English bookmakers have City as the team most likely to come away from this one with three points, and there is good reason for Guardiola’s men to go in with confidence.
City have lost just one of their last 12 Premier League home games against Liverpool (W7 D4), going down 4-1 in Jurgen Klopp’s first visit in the competition in November 2015.
Liverpool had a 2-1 Champions League win at City in April 2018, but their recent successes in the league in this rivalry have been largely limited to games at Anfield. Indeed, Liverpool are winless in their last four Premier League games against City (D2 L2), regardless of the venue.
Only once in the competition have Liverpool had a longer run without a win against City, going five games without getting the better of the boys in blue between November 2011 and December 2013.
Keep it clean, lads
Liverpool have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last 11 Premier League away games against City, since a 0-0 draw in February 2010, and with Guardiola’s formidable attacking resources it would surely be a surprise if this becomes the game where the Reds halt that sequence.
So goes one theory. Another way of looking at the game is to consider that Liverpool are in a stunning vein of form, and if they are ever going to halt the leakage of goals to City, it will be this weekend.
Liverpool have won each of their last 10 Premier League games, keeping eight clean sheets in doing so. It is their fifth run of 10 or more consecutive Premier League wins, Opta said.
Both Liverpool and City have achieved 18 clean sheets in 30 games this season, so could they even blunt out each other’s threat?
When first and second collide
This is the 30th season of the Premier League, and Sunday’s game marks the 50th time the top two sides in the division will have met.
Of the previous 49 such league clashes, the leaders have won on 20 occasions but lost 18 times, with 11 games drawn. City and Liverpool have met as the top two twice before, with a goalless draw at Anfield in October 2018 coming when City were at the summit, before Guardiola’s men scored a 4-0 thrashing against Liverpool in July 2020.
The latter game came a week after Liverpool wrapped up the Premier League title, and was an ominous sign of a pendulum swing for the following season.
Liverpool can jump to first place for the first time since October 1, and they might bear in mind that battles between first and second towards the end of the season have tended to go the way of the chaser in recent times.
In fact, of the last eight Premier League clashes between the top two during the final 10 games of the season, the team in second have won seven times (L1), including each of the last five in a row.
There is just a sliver between these sides, reflected in the fact City have taken a league-high 516 points since Guardiola’s arrival for the start of the 2016-17 season, and Liverpool are close behind with 488 points. Chelsea are a distant third on that list with 427 points.
The players who could make the difference
Phil Foden came off the bench to slide the pass that allowed Kevin De Bruyne to smash past Jan Oblak on Tuesday and give City a 1-0 first-leg lead over Atletico Madrid. Foden looks a sure-fire starter this weekend and has flourished in the Liverpool fixture, having scored in all three of his Premier League outings against Klopp’s team, while also claiming two assists.
The 21-year-old could become just the second player to score in four successive Premier League appearances against the Reds, after Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy, who found the back of the net in five straight games between 2016 and 2017.
Liverpool will know the threat could come from all angles, with Foden, ex-Liverpool man Raheem Sterling, De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus all likely menaces.
Perhaps the danger coming from Liverpool themselves is more obvious, but that does not necessarily make it easier to deflect.
Mohamed Salah has scored in four of his last five Premier League games against City, including each of his last three. The last player to score in four consecutive Premier League appearances against City was Chelsea’s Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who netted in five successive meetings between December 2000 and October 2003.
Salah is the Premier League’s top scorer and might be the chief threat, but Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz will have to be guarded carefully, should they feature.
It is a guessing game as to which three Klopp will perm from his five-man pool of star forwards. The occasion itself is a guessing game too, as Klopp and Guardiola attempt to outwit one another once again.
