Manchester City vs Liverpool Preview

After a two-week hiatus, the Premier League returns this weekend with a blockbuster match between the current top two teams, Manchester City and Liverpool.

Both teams are battling for supremacy in the league this season after a poor season from Liverpool last campaign. They are separated by one point at this stage, with City leading the pack after taking 28 points from their first 12 games (W9, D1, L2).

Their only draw in that sequence came in their last game–a pulsating 4-4 draw with Chelsea which was the first time in Pep Guardiola’s 882-game managerial career that his side has scored and conceded four times in a match.

After that rollercoaster at Stamford Bridge, City will be excited to return to the comforts of the Etihad Stadium, where they are currently on an incredible 23-game winning streak in all competitions. They are just one win shy of the record for the most consecutive home wins by an English top-flight club, set by Sunderland in 1892 and they will be looking to record that against this stubborn Liverpool side who have lost just one of their last 23 PL encounters (W15, D7).

That defeat came in a poorly officiated match at Tottenham, where Liverpool were harshly given two red cards and denied a legitimate goal due to miscommunication between the VAR and the on-field referee. As such, many Liverpool fans still believe their team is unbeaten this season.

However, their confidence may be low here, given their side’s record at the Etihad, as Jürgen Klopp’s side has been winless in their last seven visits to this stadium (D3, L4). But despite all the hosts’ dominance in recent years, the record will still need to be earned, considering you would have to go back to 1937 for the last time City posted back-to-back league wins against the Reds.

There is also the side attraction of the Klopp-Guardiola rivalry that is also rooted in records. In 28 duels between both managers, Klopp has twelve wins over Pep while Pep has eleven wins against Klopp and that is the most either man has lost to any manager they’ve faced.

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Premier League Fixtures:

Premier League Table