Game Of The Weekend - The Preview

Liverpool vs Manchester City

Sunday, 26th August, 4-00pm


Team News

Liverpool rested a large proportion of their first choice men in the midweek victory over Hearts in the Europa League, meaning that their fixture congestion shouldn't effect performance in this Premiership clash. This means that they can welcome back the big names of Gerrard, Suarez, Skrtel and Johnson to welcome last year's winners Manchester City to Anfield. Joe Cole is unlikely to feature and Daniel Agger is suspended after last weekend's red card in the disastrous defeat to West Brom, so Brendan Rodgers must decide who should partner Slovakian Skrtel in the centre of defence, either Jaime Carragher or Sebastian Coates. Another issue would be whether he opts for Borini or Carroll, and the Italian would certainly be favourite to get the nod. For City, they are still without Gareth Barry and Micah Richards, as well as Sergio Aguero who is set to miss about a month's worth of action after the knee injury he sustained in last week's win over Southampton in a tussle with Nathaniel Clyne. This means Roberto Mancini will call upon either Edin Dzeko or Mario Balotelli to partner in-form Carlos Tevez, and form would suggest Dzeko ; Balotelli received a red card in this fixture last season, and Dzeko scored in the win over Southampton. The rest of City's side should be similar to how they lined up last weekend.

Key Battles

Steven Gerrard vs Yaya Toure

The truly big match-up in this game, and one which will have a huge say on where the points go. Gerrard will look to push forward and support Suarez in attack, offering a potent threat in terms of goalscoring. The interesting issue comes when Toure himself gets forward, as he did to devastating effect last season, and this could leave space for temporary England captain Gerrard to operate in. This places a huge amount of responsibility upon the shoulders of whoever Mancini deploys in defensive midfield, and it wouldn't be surprising to see him opt for the experience of De Jong over Rodwell, who started the last game.

Carlos Tevez vs Martin Skrtel

Skrtel will most likely be asked to have the role of shackling red hot Tevez, who's been flying so far this season with two goals in two games. This is a huge ask, and if the Reds are to be successful they'll hope he can do a good job. Tevez is likely to drop deeper and drift around, so the whole of the Liverpool back line must stay alert at all times, as any slip-ups will be punished.

Luiz Suarez vs Vincent Kompany

For all the nice touches and flashes of brilliant skill, Suarez needs to up his level of performance in terms of goals, and this is one of the toughest tasks he will face all season in the shape of Vincent Kompany. The City captain will be paying close attention to Suarez, so he'll need to delve deep into his box of tricks to get himself some space and success.

Prediction

Liverpool 1-2 Manchester City

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