Liverpool welcome Manchester City to Anfield on Sunday with the hope of regaining their place at the top of the table.
The Reds’ 100% start to the Premier League campaign was lost last weekend after a late Daniel Sturridge screamer earned Jurgen Klopp’s side a point at Stamford Bridge.
As for the Citizens, they also remain unbeaten in the league and have won their last four league games, including a 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion last Saturday. The victory took them to the head of the table on goal difference.
Pep Guardiola was boosted by the return of Kevin De Bruyne to training this week, although it looks as though it may be a couple of weeks too soon for the Belgian to return to action just yet.
Ilkay Gundogan is a major doubt going into Sunday’s game, whereas Claudio Bravo, Fabian Delph, Eliaquim Mangala and Benjamin Mendy look certain to miss out completely.
Predicted Liverpool line-up
This is the first game in which Alisson has properly been tested and the big summer arrival more than stepped up to the plate. He failed to keep out Eden Hazard’s opener, however he made a huge save in the second-half to deny Hazard and prevent the Blues from doubling their advantage.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has struggled this season at times and gets caught out often when going forward. When you’re facing players with the quality that Eden Hazard possesses, you’re going to get punished when you leave yourself exposed. He’s still only nineteen though and there’s no doubt that he will improve with experience.
The central pairing of Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk has been phenomenal this season and they carried it into the game at Stamford Bridge. They’re so calming and composed on the ball and they deal with practically everything that comes their way.
Saturday afternoon wasn’t Andy Robertson’s best game and he was caught out by Willian at times. However he still looked a threat going forward, and the Scotsman produced a brilliant ball that Xherdan Shaqiri failed to finish.
Jordan Henderson and James Milner both struggled in the midfield and failed to gain control of the central areas. For me, Naby Keita always has to start ahead of the former as he has much more influence on games. As for James Milner, he’s played a lot of football lately and you have to wonder if he could do with a rest, which isn’t something you would ever associate with the ex-Manchester City man!
Gini Wijnaldum was positioned further forward against Chelsea and he had much more control of the midfield but was lucky not to be punished when nearly setting up a second for Maurizio Sarri’s side.
To put it fairly, Mo Salah had a shocker in front of goal. The Egyptian worked extremely hard but his presence in the game faded as the clock ticked down which led to him being hooked just after the hour-mark. Roberto Firmino also worked unbelievably hard as well but nothing really showed for it. To complete the hat-trick, Sadio Mane’s influence on the affair was limited and it was very much a disappointing day all round for Liverpool’s front-three.
Thankfully, Jurgen Klopp was able to look towards his bench and turn to Daniel Sturridge who came on and scored undoubtedly one of the goals of the season. Can I see him becoming a regular starter just yet? Despite scoring four goals this season so far, I think starting the 29-year-old would require a huge change to the attacking setup and I’m not sure it’s needed just yet.
Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Milner, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Prediction:
It’s been very much hit and miss for Liverpool’s front-three this season and although I’ve criticised them at times, you have to start your best players in your toughest games and it doesn’t get any tougher than this.
The two sides met four times last season, with the Reds coming out victorious in three of them. We’ve seen that when Jurgen Klopp’s side are on it, they can tear any team in the world to pieces. Sunday’s opponents also have that ability as well so for both teams, very much like last week, it will be about squashing the main creative outputs. The key for me in this tactical battle will be about gaining dominance in the midfield, cutting out the passing lines and destroying the supply lines.
Liverpool 2-1 Manchester City
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