Premier League Match Preview – England’s top two meet in a potential title decider when Liverpool host Manchester City.
Defending champions Manchester City travel to league leaders Liverpool in a mouth-watering top of the table clash between two of the Premier League’s juggernauts.
Here’s everything you need to know before the clash at Anfield.
Premier League Match Preview – Liverpool vs Manchester City:
Form
Liverpool: WWWWW
League leaders Liverpool are looking to put a margin of four points between themselves and City on Sunday afternoon.
A great run of form has got the Reds to this point, winning their last four games in the league and their last seven in all competitions. They’ve only lost one of their last 19 matches.
They beat Sparta Prague 5-1 on Thursday night and nicked a very late victory at Nottingham Forest last weekend. They’ve also had an extremely tough time with injuries as of late. However, under Jurgen Klopp’s leadership in his last season with the club they’ve shown grit and resilience to keep on grinding out results.
THIS TEAM! ???? pic.twitter.com/Meu3GaoxSd
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) March 2, 2024
They will not face a tougher test than Sunday’s opposition, City are also in fantastic form and have the ‘know how’ at this stage of a Premier League season. Liverpool and City have played out some brilliant title battles over the years and this one promises to be another cracker. The winners on Sunday will end the round in first place with just 10 games remaining.
Klopp has made his intention to win every trophy available in his last season clear. The Reds won the Carabao Cup last month and fielded a very strong side on Thursday in their Europa League round of 16 tie.
However, the Premier League takes priority. The German manager has only been able to win one Premier League title at the club, a low number considering the staggering win ratio he boasts, such has been the dominance of Man City.
As for the team news, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez will be assessed after being withdrawn from the field early against Sparta. The good news for the Reds is that Mohamed Salah should be fit enough to start.
Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip, Stefan Bajcetic and Ben Doak remain on the sidelines this weekend.
Manchester City: WWWWW
The Citizens have been in excellent form as of late as they chase down a fourth consecutive title. They haven’t lost a game in any competition since the 6th of December, a run that includes 18 wins and two draws in 20 matches.
Pep Guardiola’s side have timed that run perfectly ahead of clashes with title rivals Liverpool and Arsenal in their next two league games. Two wins in those fixtures, and the Citizens will be tough to stop in their pursuit of a sixth title in seven years.
A trip to Merseyside, coming up! ????
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— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 7, 2024
City comfortably saw off Copenhagen on Wednesday night to book their place in the last eight of the Champions League, following a fantastic derby day and 3-1 win against Manchester United last weekend.
Phil Foden and Erling Haaland have been right amongst the goals recently, with the latter scoring in City’s last three games. The Norwegian striker is once again the league’s top scorer, and will surely be one of the main focuses in Liverpool’s training sessions.
Two new injury concerns came to light on Wednesday night for City, with both Jeremy Doku and Matheus Nunes doubts for Sunday. Doku didn’t feature at all in the game, whilst Nunes came off with a finger injury. Jack Grealish also remains unavailable.
Previous Meetings
The two clubs have had some fantastic clashes over the past 10 years.
Although City edge the number of trophies won, the head-to-heads have been even with Liverpool possessing the slight upper hand. Since the beginning of 2015 they have met 25 times, with 11 of those matches going to the Reds and eight to City. The last time Liverpool failed to beat Sunday’s opposition in a Premier League season was 2020/21.
If they are to continue that run they will need a victory this weekend. When the two sides met back in November they played out a 1-1 draw at the Etihad. Haaland opened the scoring on the day, before Trent Alexander-Arnold equalised late on.
Predicted Lineups
Liverpool: Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Salah, Nunez, Diaz.
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne; Silva, Alvarez, Foden; Haaland.
Who is the referee?
Michael Oliver.
Is the game on TV?
UK – Sky Sports Main Event.
What time is kick-off?
15:45 GMT, Sunday 10th March.
Odds
Liverpool – 15/8
Draw – 11/4
Manchester City – 6/5
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