Pressing Issues

The Rivalry Continues

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool vs Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City became a marquee fixture on the Premier League calendar.

From the scintillating 2-1 in 2019 which led to City pipping the Reds to the title, to the pair of 2-2 draws in 2021/22 which were arguably the highest quality matches in Premier League history, modern rivalries don’t get better than meetings between these two.

A new chapter beckons as Arne Slot will face Guardiola for the first time as Liverpool manager, with his rampant Reds looking to build an eleven point lead over the champions.

The Dutchman has taken to Merseyside like a duck to water: sitting top of the Premier League and the Champions League, and having passed every challenge so far with flying colours. Their midweek victory over Real Madrid (a result Liverpool hadn’t managed since 2009) sees them with six wins in their last six and flying with incredible confidence.

On the contrary, City travel to Anfield aware that they have won once in their last twenty-one visits and currently in the worst form they have experienced under Guardiola. Slot could “hardly believe” City’s midweek meltdown against his former club Feyenoord, a collapse almost incomprehensible for the team that have won four successive league titles. They are now winless in six and Sunday arguably serves as a last chance for the Citizens’ title aspirations.

Red Hot Slot

Liverpool head into the weekend as favourites for a range of reasons. Their flawless recent form, top players such as Mohammed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk performing at their best, and considering City’s current proclivity for conceding counterattacks – a strength the Reds have repeatedly utilised so far this season.

They will fancy themselves on the break, but will also be aware that teams have found success when playing aggressively against City. Slot notoriously prioritises “winning your duels” – a statistic in which his team are league leaders (57% of duels won), while City sit in 16th (48% of duels won). This is indicative that Liverpool could see success from playing on the front foot against the champions.

The midfield battle will also be a key point of interesting for the Reds boss. Ryan Gravernberch, Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister are expected to start, and will look to overpower the City midfield – who are of course, still trying to fill the Rodri-shaped hole that has hindered their performances.

Gravernberch in particular has been a Slot success story, with the manager praising a series of “outstanding” recent performances from the young Dutchman – who is many peoples’ Liverpool player of the season so far.

Champions Chasing

Many discussions have been held this week over how if Liverpool win on Sunday, it would be impossible for Manchester City to win the Premier League. And while it can be argued that this is the case, if City are to go and win at Anfield, the gap will be down to 5 points and discourse will start about how the Blues are back.

This is what makes Sunday’s game so enticing.

Both teams will be confident in their ability to get a result over the other. Even with City’s recent form, they will be aware that they are four games unbeaten against Liverpool, and that a response is needed after their recent slump. They haven’t won four successive titles without facing adversity.

2020/21 Premier League Player of the Season winner Ruben Dias is expected to return from injury on Sunday, with the centre-back hopefully providing additional stability to what has been a shaky City defence in recent weeks.

Additionally, talisman Kevin De Bruyne looks likely to start his first game since being forced off in a Champions League game against Inter in September. Both of these returns will provide huge confidence boosts to a team who will no doubt turn up to Anfield with a point to prove on Sunday.