Liverpool vs Manchester City: A fight for Premier League supremacy

The marquee game this weekend in the Premier League will be a match pitting first against second as league leaders Liverpool will play host to Manchester City at Anfield.

Both sides are coming in with mixed results over the past week. In the league, Liverpool was held to a draw by Brentford whereas Manchester City picked up a huge win against Chelsea. In Europe, however, the Reds made short work of Porto in a 5-1 win. City, on the other hand, lost 2-0 to Paris Saint-Germain.

City will try to bounce back and reach the top of the table while Liverpool will be looking to put some room between themselves and the rest of the league.

Manchester City and Liverpool find themselves in familiar territory.

The fixtures between these two sides have been exciting, produced goals and delivered some controversy since Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola took over their respective teams.

Klopp and Guardiola are no strangers to one another as they faced off plenty of times when they managed in the Bundesliga where the German was Borussia Dortmund manager and Guardiola was in charge at Bayern Munich.

They’ve taken their rivalry over to the Premier League where each has won their fair share of head-to-head matchups. On this occasion, both sides will be missing key players.

Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold has been ruled out of the match. He missed the Porto tie and is not going to be fit in time to be available against Manchester City. He is expected to be back after the international break.

According to the Liverpool Echo, City will be without both İlkay Gündoğan and Oleksandr Zinchenko who also were out midweek in the Champions League. This means João Cancelo once again gets the nod at left-back.

As has become the norm for Guardiola, trying to figure out his front three is going to be a guessing game. Despite his performances, Ferrán Torres has been dropped in favor of Raheem Sterling. He’s flipped between Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez. The only certainties appear to be Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus.

For Klopp, it’s a little more straightforward. So far this season, he’s utilized a front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Diogo Jota over Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian did score twice midweek so that may be the only question in terms of selection.

What Liverpool have in their favor is the atmosphere at Anfield. Teams have gone and won at Anfield but the pressure towards opponents makes things much more difficult. It’s a factor Guardiola recognized but downplays.

"“It’s not about intimidation,” Guardiola said. “It’s about the quality of the opponent. When you don’t win it’s because they are so good. We try to win games with or without spectators. But last season we won.“I’m very pleased Anfield is full again and we can go there to play a game. It’s nice that the people are back and we can enjoy a fantastic atmosphere there.“Hopefully we can handle it in a good way. I’m pretty sure the players would prefer to play with fans at Anfield than without.”Source: ESPN"

The last time these two teams met at Anfield, City got a resounding 4-1 result. It was their first win at Anfield in the last 18 years. Should they win again, it will be the first time they’ve won consecutive games away to Liverpool since 1953.

Liverpool are unbeaten this season having won four games and drawn twice. Despite losing once, Man City have only conceded one goal.

Liverpool’s attack is going to need to be clinical when an opportunity presents itself. If there is any cause for concern, it’s in defense. They’ve conceded only four times but three of those four came last weekend against Brentford.

As for City, it’s a matter of converting those chances. For the most part, it’s been finishing those moves rather than creating them. They have a striker-sized hole in attack and one that Guardiola hope his side can overcome.

Whoever wins the match is not going to be crowned champion. If there is a victor, it could put City at the top of the table or see Liverpool get some breathing room between them and the blue side of Manchester.