This Sunday, November 8, Liverpool travel to the Etihad Stadium to face rivals Manchester City, in a clash that promises to be a 90-minute thrill. And even though it’s still early in the season, this game will have a huge effect on the rest of the Premier League campaign. 

Defending champions and current league leaders have warmed up well for this game, with a brilliant performance against Atalanta. The surprise of the Champions League night was summer signing Diogo Jota, who scored a hat-trick in the five-nil victory. In fact, Jota is probably giving Jurgen Klopp a bit of a headache – if he makes it to the starting 11 against City, he will probably be replacing Roberto Firmino, seeing that the latter hasn’t been quite on pace this season. 

Some big names will be missing for the Reds – including Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. And their defence has not been particularly brilliant in the Premier League. While they are still to concede a goal in Europe, they have conceded 15 goals in seven Premier League outings – van Dijk’s absence is certainly being felt. 

Still, the Reds also have the advantage of sitting at the top of the table, with a lead of five points over City. That means that they can afford to settle for a draw. 

City have a bit more pressure on them than Liverpool, seeing that they must win in order to close the gap to the top – it’s only the full three points that will help them keep pace with the defending champions, also considering that they have played one game fewer than the Reds. 

Their last Champions League outing resulted in a three-nil victory over Olympiacos. Apart from the convincing result, there was the good news of having Gabriel Jesus return for City – and the Brazilian will be in contention to start against Liverpool. Pep Guardiola can also count on Ruben Dias, who has had a very positive impact on City’s defensive set-up – in fact, with the Portuguese defender on duty, Pep Guardiola’s side has only conceded three goals in six matches. 

For Sergio Aguero, the news is not so good – as the striker will probably only be back in action after the international break. 

Recent results favour Manchester City, who have won four of the last six matches against Liverpool. Moreover, City haven’t been beaten at home by Liverpool since 2015. Last season, City routed Liverpool with a four-nil victory – but that doesn’t really count, as Liverpool had already wrapped up the league by then. Still, City have enough experience and talent to punish the Reds, especially if the latter do not perform. 

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Players to watch

Liverpool

  • Sadio Mané
  • Mohamed Salah
  • Nathaniel Phillips

Manchester City

  • Gabriel Jesus
  • Ruben Dias
  • Ferran Torres 

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