In what will quite easily serve as one of the biggest games of the season so far, Liverpool and Manchester City will meet in the 4.30pm kick-off at Anfield on Sunday. These two sides are bound to be locked in the Premier League title race between now and the end of the season but the real question is whether or not they can produce the kind of “game of the weekend” fireworks we’re all searching for.
Liverpool won the title for the first time during lockdown whereas City were able to regain their crown last season. Chelsea and Manchester United are hoping to crash the party within the context of the title picture but based on what we’ve seen thus far, these two are still going to be the frontrunners.
Despite the game taking place on Merseyside, Manchester City are priced as the narrow favourites to win the game with odds of 6/4 via William Hill. Pep Guardiola’s side have had a few slip-ups in the league up to this point but the popular opinion appears to be that they should be able to put on a real show tomorrow afternoon.
Liverpool at 9/5 with Betfair is coming across as really great value for money for those who believe in the operation Jurgen Klopp is putting together. Sure, they drew with Brentford, but aside from that they seem to be blowing teams away at quite the pace both domestically and in Europe.
The first goalscorer betting odds are always quite intriguing, especially when you’ve got a team like City that features a lot of attacking midfielders but not too many natural strikers. At 7/2 with Betfred, Mohamed Salah is perhaps the unsurprising selection with respect to who will hit the back of the net first.
In terms of how we think the game itself will pan out, we expect to see Liverpool control large spells with City being – as per usual – overwhelmed by the atmosphere provided by the Reds, especially once it ticks into the second half.
We don’t actually expect this to be a very close encounter with Jurgen Klopp neutralising anything Pep Guardiola throws at him from beginning to end. Liverpool just seem to be back to the “different animal” mode that won them the title and we don’t think they’re going to slow down.
City should be able to start pretty well but the second Liverpool are able to get the ball into the feet of Mo Salah in a dangerous position, we don’t think he’s going to miss.
The visitors should be able to get on the scoresheet at the bare minimum but outside of that we don’t think they’ll come close to Liverpool in what should be a fairly high scoring game.
The win will cement Liverpool as the clear top dogs in this race and with Chelsea looking fragile in the last few weeks, the path will begin to clear for the Reds to have the kind of dominant season that has felt quite familiar as of late.