Jurgen Klopp labelled Manchester City “the best football team in the world right now” after Liverpool’s 7-1 thrashing of Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday night.
The German coach claimed the “mood” had lifted after Liverpool’s second-half destruction of the Scottish giants, but he referenced the clash with City on a number of occasions in his post-match briefing in Glasgow.
He sounded concerned. And a number of factors, but not all, point in the favour of the visitors on Sunday.
The first of which involves Erling Haaland, whom City rested in midweek for the trip to Copenhagen. Pep Guardiola made four changes to his side for the goalless draw with the Danes in which City missed a penalty as VAR took centre stage.
Haaland will return at Anfield fresh, although Guardiola has said the 20-goal striker did not recover well after the win over Southampton.
Julian Alvarez was given a chance in attack alongside Jack Grealish and Riyad Mahrez.
Aymeric Laporte partnered Manuel Akanji in central defence, while Ilkay Gundogan came in for Bernardo Silva in midfield. Silva is likely to return, while Phil Foden and Ruben Dias also look set to come back into the side on Merseyside.
Klopp, meanwhile, does not have the options of his rival with a number of players missing through injury. Luis Diaz is out with a knee issue, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip are also missing.
Klopp fielded Joe Gomez and Konstantinos Tsimikas as his full-backs at Ibrox, with Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk his two centre-backs. And it’s that back four which is likely to get a good examination against Haaland et al.
Another key indicator ahead of the game is Liverpool’s wretched form. They have just two wins from eight Premier League games – at home to Bournemouth and Newcastle.
The 2-1 win over Newcastle was slightly fortuitous, while the 9-0 Bournemouth massacre has skewed their goals for tally. The Cherries simply laid down and had their tummies tickled that day, which proved to be Scott Parker’s final game as boss.
Take away those goals and Liverpool boast a tally of just 11, whilst conceding 12.
Klopp has acknowledged they have “problems” without the ball, but they showed in Glasgow they remain a threat going forwards.
Despite Liverpool not looking like the high-pressing style of old, they will still go on the attack against a City side who have won all but two of their eight games so far.
Interestingly the two draws did come away from home and looking at the last meetings between the sides, Liverpool have the upper hand.
Klopp’s charges have not lost to their rivals since February 2021, but that was in front of an empty stadium during Covid times.
The Community Shield win for Liverpool, though, is probably the best indicator of how Sunday’s tussle could go. City had the lion’s share of possession at the King Power, but Liverpool were more clinical and won 3-1.
Haaland had a rare off day in August, but Liverpool had not hit their poor Premier League run and at the time looked full of confidence. How things have changed. It’s now odds-on City the side likely to be the team full of beans at Anfield.
One thing that looks assured, though, is that there will be goals. They may not be shared out equally, like in the 2-2 draws during 2021/22, but goals should flow.
City have fired nine in their four away games in the Premier League and the last eight meetings between the sides have provided four or more goals.
It looks like another match-up that will keep both goalkeepers busy and could put Liverpool a massive 16 points behind their rivals if they lose.
Key stats
- Liverpool have won the last two meetings between the sides
- Liverpool are undefeated in their last 27 home PL matches
- There have been over 2.5 goals scored in 15 of Man City’s last 17 PL games
- The most common scoreline (9) between Liverpool and Manchester City is 2-2
- Manchester City score 27% of their goals between 61-75 mins
- Manchester City are on a winning streak of six matches
- When Manchester City lead 1-0 away they win 83% of their games
- When Liverpool are 1-0 down at home they win 50% of their matches
- On average Liverpool score 2.2 goals in a match against Manchester City and Man City score 2.2 goals against Liverpool
