Manchester City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium in a blockbuster Premier League meeting.
Victory would see Man City cut their deficit to league leaders – Arsenal down to five points, whilst Liverpool will stay sixth with a win.
Team News
Phil Foden is ruled out for Man City after he needed appendix surgery during the international break, which forced him to withdraw from England’s eventual win over Ukraine on the day of the match itself.
Erling Haaland (groin) is a doubt and he could face a late fitness test.
Liverpool could have Darwin Nunez available after he withdrew from international duty for Uruguay, due to a minor ankle injury suffered during their Champions League exit at Real Madrid.
Joe Gomez (muscle), Thiago Alcantara (hip) and Luis Diaz (knee) could also be in contention, but Konstantino Tsimikas (rib) is a doubt.
Calvin Ramsay (knee) and Stefan Bajcetic (adductor) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Man City face Liverpool at Etihad Stadium in a 12:30pm BST kick-off on Saturday 1 April, live on BT Sport 1 in UK.
Stat Attack
- Man City have lost just one of their last six league meetings against Liverpool (W2, D3, L1).
- Liverpool are winless in their last six league visits to the Etihad Stadium (D3, L3).
- City have kept just one clean sheet in their last four league matches at home to Liverpool, which came in a 4-0 win in July 2020.
- Erling Haaland has scored nine goals in City’s last three matches in all competitions (W3).
- Liverpool have won just one of six league matches away from Anfield in 2023 (W1, D1, L4)
Prediction
Having demolished Burnley in a clinically ruthless FA Cup Quarter-Final win two weeks ago, Man City certainly can come into this league match full of confidence but with an eight-point gap to Arsenal, it is imperative that City win here despite having two games in hand come end of April.
Should Haaland however be declared unfit and with Foden ruled out, Pep Guardiola will need his players to step up like they did against Burnley because Liverpool won’t be pushovers – despite the visitors’ poor away form in 2023 so far.
Speaking of Jurgen Klopp’s Reds, they come into this match off the back of two tight defeats against Bournemouth and Real Madrid – where defensive errors cost them a result on top of sloppy end product in more inconsistent performances.
This clash though is a chance for Liverpool to begin their run-in on the right foot otherwise they could risk getting cut adrift of the top-four race, especially with Arsenal to come next weekend which won’t be easy either.
Victory is therefore imperative for both teams coming into this clash but if City play with the swagger which blew Burnley apart, it is hard to see them not coming away without the win unless Liverpool can dig deep and snatch a counter-attack result,
Prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool
Result: Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool
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