Preview: Liverpool vs. Manchester City
Liverpool finally face Manchester City for the first time this season when they welcome Pep Guardiola and his players to Anfield on Sunday.
LIVERPOOL VS. MANCHESTER CITY
| Sunday, December 1st |
Premier League | Anfield
4PM GMT/11AM EST
Sunday marks the beginning of December, and with it will come a wild end to 2024 for the Reds. Their scheduled has nine games packed into the 31 days of the month. These include a League Cup semi-final against Southampton, a Champions League match against Girona in Spain, and seven league games. It will be a very consequential month for Liverpool’s prospects as they seek to continue their good run of games and stay on top.
Arguably the most influential game of all takes place on Sunday when Liverpool welcome rivals Manchester City to Anfield. It’s been nearly a decade now — ever since Jürgen Klopp’s arrival in 2015 — that the Liverpool / Manchester City matches have been the two biggest of every Premier League season. These two heavyweights have duked it out time and again, with Manchester City almost always landing about Liverpool on the league table.
But after 12 games, things are looking different now. Liverpool are ahead of Citizens by an impressive eight points. They’ll be looking to make it 11 by the time the final whistle sounds at Anfield on Sunday night.
The Reds come into this game on a high after beating current Champions League titleholders Real Madrid, despite Mohamed Salah missing a penalty. Before that, they returned to club action after the international break in Southampton to win 3-2.
Manchester City, on the other hand, are on a six-game winless streak. Last weekend they suffered an embarrassing 4-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur, and in midweek, they blew a three goal lead against Feyenoord in the last 15 minutes to draw 3-3.
Predicted Liverpool Lineup (4-3-3)
Kelleher; Bradley, Konaté, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai; Diaz, Núñez, Salah
It’s harder to guess the line-up for this week, because so many previously injured players are on the cusp of returning. Among them is goalkeeper Alisson Becker, who has missed several weeks due to a hamstring injury. Deputy CaoimhÃn Kelleher has been superb in his stead. On almost any other team, he’d be the undisputed first choice, but world class Alisson is sure to regain his position as soon as he’s fit. Trent Alexander-Arnold could also be back for Sunday, which is lucky, because Conor Bradley is out.
It’s hard to count out the phenomenal Curtis Jones in the midfield after a great performance against Real Madrid. So will it be Szoboszlai or Jones? We’ll see.
Ibrahima Konaté sustained a leg injury, so Joe Gomez will likely be alongside Virgil van Dijk in the defense. Also unavailable are Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas, and Federico Chiesa.
Missing for Manchester City will be John Stones, Rodri, Oscar Bobb, and Mateo Kovacic. Jeremy Roku didn’t make it the team midweek, but he may be available for this one.
What the Managers Had to Say
Arne Slot: ‘’I don’t think anyone in the last eight or nine years, or maybe even longer, would have said that City at home or away, the word easy never comes to my mind if I think about City. Not at all. I know everybody is looking at their results and I have seen them as well, but if you face them - and that’s what we do - you analyse it and I have seen, for example, against Brighton they were 1-0 up and could have scored for two or three-nil, didn’t, and then were beaten 2-1.”
Pep Guardiola: “It’s really good. Maybe more positional game but the transition from Jurgen always is there. Every corner or free-kick for you is a transition for them. How quick they are and the weapons that they have up front, always have been there. It was Mane, Firmino, always Mo Salah, now it’s Jota, Nunez, Luis Diaz too. You know the opinion I have and the respect. We fought the biggest battles in my time here.”
The Officials
Referee: Chris Kavanagh. Assistants: Lee Betts, Darren Cann. Fourth official: Anthony Taylor. VAR: Paul Tierney. Assistant VAR: Tim Wood.
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