No two teams have been more dominant in the Premier League over the last five years than Manchester City and Liverpool.
Over that period of time, City have won four EPL titles, while Liverpool ended their 30 year wait for another top division title in 2019/20 and the games between the two over that period in particular have been very intense.
Well this weekend, they will renew their rivalry once again with Liverpool hosting Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday afternoon’s big game.
However, in terms of their Premier League form, both teams are in somewhat contrasting form heading into Sunday’s game.
Of course, such a huge game means that plenty of punters will be keen to enjoy a bet on the game and you can get all the latest pre-match betting, as well as extensive in-play betting when the game kicks off with bet365 Sport.
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Liverpool’s Premier League Woes
For Liverpool, it has been a struggle over the first eight games of the Premier League season. The Reds have won just two of those matches, a 9-0 home win over Bournemouth proved to be a false dawn as the Anfield side have won just one other EPL game since, a fortunate 2-1 home win over Newcastle United.
Despite this, and a tendency to concede the first goal in games, Liverpool have only lost twice, away to both Manchester United and Arsenal, drawing the other four games.
However, their big signing of the summer, Darwin Nunez has struggled to adjust to his new surroundings although he did net last week against Arsenal and again in midweek against Rangers in the Champions League.
Other big names have struggled for form such as Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Virgil Van Dijk, while question marks have been asked about the Reds ageing midfield, especially with a number of players injured at the present moment in time.
However, last night in the Champions League, Liverpool found some form coming back from a 1-0 deficit to beat Rangers 7-1 at Ibrox Park, with Roberto Firmino scoring twice, Mo Salah scoring a six-minute hat-trick (the fastest in Champions League history) and Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez adding the other goals.
That will certainly give Jurgen Klopp’s men a boost heading into this weekend’s massive clash.
Manchester City Marching On With Haaland Unstoppable
In contrast to Liverpool’s stuttering EPL form, Manchester City have enjoyed their customary superb start to the season, winning seven and drawing two of their nine games so far to lie second in the table just a point behind Arsenal.
City are the only unbeaten team in the Premier League at the moment, they have conceded the joint fewest number of goals, scored by far the most goals (33, 10 more than Arsenal’s 23) and they have Erling Haaland who has netted an amazing 15 goals in just 9 Premier League games and 20 goals in all competitions this season.
They’ve also confirmed their place in the Knockout Stages of the Champions League after just four games, albeit they drew their last game away to Copenhagen after playing most of the game with ten men.
While Haaland has been the shining light, City have also seen superb performances from the likes of Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Rodri and of course Kevin De Bruyne, which has helped them ensure a fantastic start to the season.
Liverpool V Manchester City – Recent Head To Head (Over Last 10 games)
- Manchester City Wins – 4 (one of these wins was in a penalty shootout following a draw after 90 minutes in the Community Shield))
- Liverpool Wins – 3
- Drawn Games – 3
- Man City Goals Scored – 20
- Liverpool Goals Scored – 17
Factfile – Liverpool v Manchester City
Liverpool
- Manager – Jurgen Klopp
- EPL Season So Far – P8, W2, D4, L2, F20 A12 Pts 10 (10th)
- EPL Form (Last 5) – LDDWW
- Top Goalscorer – Roberto Firmino – 6 goals in 8 games
- EPL Outright Winner Betting Odds – 33/1
- Injuries – Luis Diaz, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones
Just as Liverpool start to get some players back from injury, they lose a trio of players in Diaz, Alexander-Arnold and Matip which means that if Andy Robertson isn’t fit enough to play, the Reds will be without three of their four first choice defenders for the game.
Having rested some players in midweek against Rangers, I’d expect Mo Salah and Fabinho to make a return to the team, especially after the former bagged a hat-trick in just six minutes against Rangers after coming on from the bench.
Liverpool Predicted XI – (4-4-2) – Alisson, Gomez, Tsimikas, Van Dijk, Konate, Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson, Firmino, Nunez, Salah
Manchester City
- Manager – Pep Guardiola
- EPL Season So Far – P9, W7, D2, L0, F33, A9, Pts 23 (2nd)
- EPL Form (Last 5) – WWWDW
- Top Goalscorer – Erling Haaland – 15 goals in 8 games
- EPL Outright Winner Betting Odds – 1/5 favourites
- Injuries – Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips
City will be without two England internationals for the trip to Anfield on Sunday, but other than that they have a strong and fit squad to pick from with several players rested ahead of their midweek game in the Champions League.
Erling Haaland was one of those given a break ahead of a very busy schedule for teams in the run up to the World Cup, as was Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias.
Guardiola won’t move away from his 4-3-3 formation for this game and given the form of Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden against Liverpool, with the two scoring 3 and 4 goals in their last five games against the Reds respectively, I would expect them to start.
Man City Predicted XI – (4-3-3) – Ederson, Ake, Cancelo, Dias, Akanji, Rodri, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Grealish, Haaland, Foden
Latest Betting Odds With Bet365
Full Time Result – Liverpool – 3/1, Manchester City – 4/5, Draw – 16/5.
It’s not surprising to see City as the favourites here given their excellent start to the season and the fact that Erling Haaland has pretty much been unstoppable in recent games.
However, the Reds have stopped Haaland already this season, when they beat City in the Charity Shield and that big win over Rangers in midweek should give them real confidence here.
The first goal is crucial in this game, if Liverpool concede it, as they have done in so many recent games, City will go on and win I am certain.
But I feel the Reds stand a chance of getting something here if they can score first.
With that in mind, I am backing Liverpool to score first and the game to finish in a draw (16/5).
