Man City vs. Liverpool
- When: Thursday 3 January
- Where: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
- Kick-off: 8pm (UK time)
- TV channel: live on Sky Sports
With City currently languishing in third place, seven points behind Jurgen Klopp’s unbeaten side, Pep Guardiola has no room for error.
Defeat would leave them ten points off the Reds, while a victory would narrow the gap to just four points.
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Klopp has overseen a “festive miracle”, says Barney Ronay of The Guardian. “A period of four weeks… during which Liverpool have gone from four points behind City to seven points clear.
“It is a remarkable surge of cold, hard sporting will, eight wins in a row in all competitions, with 23 goals scored and three conceded. In its shadow City have stuttered and stumbled.”
The pressure is on Guardiola to adapt. “Such is Liverpool’s momentum it is City who must now chase and apply pressure, Guardiola who must try to do something different, and indeed unprecedented, in his own coaching career,” adds Ronay.
But does Guardiola have it in him to win ugly? If he does stick to his principles, it could be his undoing.
“The suspicion lingers that the onslaught Klopp expects from City would suit his side, who like going toe-to-toe with the opposition,” says Paul Joyce of The Times.
“Liverpool would not be averse to a helter-skelter shoot-out given their potency on the counter, which was evident in the 5-1 drubbing of Arsenal last Saturday.”
Team news and starting XIs
Man City team news
Guardiola is definitely without suspended Fabian Delph and the injured Benjamin Mendy, leaving him with a problem at left back. The remaining options are Aymeric Laporte, Danilo or Oleksandr Zinchenko to fill in.
“The absence of a first-choice left-back for this one means [right back] Kyle Walker will almost certainly be the [defensive] player given licence to attack, which means whoever starts as the right-sided forward can move inside the pitch and exploit central space,” says J.J. Bull of The Daily Telegraph.
That player is likely to be Raheem Sterling, with Leroy Sane more restricted on the left.
In the centre, “City could be boosted by the return of influential Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne, who missed their victory over Southampton with a muscle injury, but could make his return against Jurgen Klopp’s men,” says Sky Sports.
Ilkay Gundogan could also be fit for the game.
Liverpool team news
Liverpool fans were left worried by a social media rumour that key defender Virgil van Dijk was injured, but it was based on a tweet from January last year and the Dutchman is available.
Indeed, Dominic Solanke is the only injury absence for Klopp, who has James Milner back in contention following a minor muscle problem over Christmas.
Key to the Reds’ chances could be unheralded midfielder Gini Wijnaldum, says Sachin Nakrani in The Guardian. “He has featured in all but one of the leaders’ league fixtures this season and been central, literally as well as figuratively, to everything that has gone right…
“Put simply, without Wijnaldum there would be no unbeaten run, no string of clean sheets and no stream of goals for the current pace-setters.”
The midfielder links Liverpool’s solid defending and quicksilver attacks, and City will want to neutralise his influence.
Possible starting XIs
With only the Man City left-back issue to consider, the teams should pick themselves – and the London Evening Standard predicts these line-ups:
- Man City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Zinchenko; Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Silva; Mahrez, Aguero, Sterling
- Liverpool (4-3-3): Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Henderson; Salah, Mane, Firmino
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