Liverpool v Manchester City - Premier League Matchday 12: Team News, Preview and Prediction

Competition/Round: 2019/20 English Premier League Season – Matchday 11

Date/Time: Liverpool v Manchester City – Sunday 10th November 2019, 16:30 (UK); 11:30 EST, 08:30 PST (USA)

Venue: Anfield, Liverpool, England, UK

Match Officials:

Referee: Michael Oliver

Assistants: Stuart Burt, Simon Bennett

Fourth Official: Mike Dean

VAR: Paul Tierney

Assistant VAR: Constantine Hatzidakis

TV Info: Sky Sports main Event (UK), NBCSN (USA)

Live Stream: NBC

Sports Live, Fubo.tv (USA) Fubo.tv shows every Manchester City game with a high-quality and legal stream. New to Fubo.tv? Click here to sign up for a discounted rate.

Radio: BBC Five Live, BBC Radio Manchester (UK); TalkSport Radio World, Sirius XM FC (USA)

Match Preview

As big matches go, this is the biggest so far for Manchester City. The blues trail the league leaders by six points and cannot really afford to drop any points on Sunday at Anfield, so it’s a must win match for City.

The blues have not won at Anfield since Nicolas Anelka scored twice on the penultimate game of the 2002/03 season to record their first three points on the red side of Merseyside since 1983. City have lost two and drawn one so far this season, dropping points at home to Spurs, while losing at Norwich and tasting a home defeat by Wolves. Liverpool dropped points for the first time at Old Trafford and came close to a first defeat of the season at Villa Park, before coming back from a goal down to win 2-1 in injury time.

Other than the draw in Stretford, Liverpool have won every league match so far and it will be a real test of City’s title credentials on Sunday afternoon. Defeat will see City nine points behind Liverpool, but a victory will cut the gap to just three, so it’s a real six-pointer in every sense of the word.

It’s worth noting that, as our Match from the Past highlights, in November 1990, Liverpool were in a similar situation when racing challenging Arsenal for the league title. The reds were seven points clear going into the match against the blues but, after a strong first half of the season, Liverpool faded in the second half and lost the league by seven points. Let’s hope that happens again this season.

Team News

City will be without goalkeeper Ederson, who was substituted in Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Atalanta. His replacement, Claudio Bravo, didn’t exactly last the full 45 minutes but will be available to play against the league leaders. David Silva is also a doubt, while City have Rodri, Sane, Laporte and Zinchenko will all definitely miss out.

Liverpool pair Jordan Henderson and Virgil van Dijk are both available, but Joel Matip, Nathaniel Clyne and Xherdan Shaqiri are all out.

Prediction

This fixture is now getting so hyped up, there’s a possibility it won’t live up to that hype. After last season’s 0-0 draw, I had a feeling City would win this fixture this season, and while part of me still thinks they can do it, I think the injuries we have will force City to be a bit more defensive, particularly with Bravo in goal. That said, it may make the home side over-confident and City still have talent in abundance to take advantage should the opportunity arise. I can’t put City down to lose so I’m sitting on the fence.

Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City