Last weekend saw City lose 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium following previous league defeats against Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Sunday afternoon sees Pep Guardiola take his side to Anfield to take on Liverpool for the first time in this latest campaign.
City head into this big game off the back of a midweek Champions League match against Feyenoord, during which the Blues found themselves throwing away a 3-0 lead within 14 minutes to draw 3-3.
For Liverpool, they ran out a convincing 2-0 win over last season’s winners Real Madrid on Wednesday night thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo.Now though, one pundit – who knows what it takes to win a league title – shared his thoughts on how this latest meeting between the two most recent Premier League title-winning clubs.
Alan Shearer drops Man City prediction for Liverpool showdown
In his latest column for Metro where he previewed all of this weekend’s round of Premier League results, Alan Shearer gave this early assessment of City’s match with Liverpool.
He said: “There’s no doubting the highlight of this weekend’s Premier League action with Liverpool hosting Manchester City at Anfield.
“Pep Guardiola’s side are in the midst of a dismal run and simply cannot afford another setback at what has been a particularly unhappy hunting ground in recent years.
“Unless City tighten up and strengthen up in midfield, Liverpool could overpower them there. There are so many great battles to look forward to. Whoever Pep decides to play at left-back has a huge challenge on hand also.With the form that Man City are in, Liverpool at Anfield and the forward options they have, I can’t see anything other than a Liverpool victory. Prediction: Liverpool win.”
Ilkay Gundogan said Liverpool is a must-win game for City
As things stand, Liverpool are eight points above City in the league table, in addition to having scored more goals and conceded fewer than the champions.
After bagging the Manchester club’s second goal of the game in midweek, Ilkay Gundogan addressed City’s Liverpool test, saying this when asked if he thinks is a must-win game for the Blues.He said: “To stay in the title race probably yes. 11 points would be a huge gap. Anfield is always tough. We’ve struggled in recent years.
“Liverpool are a great team full of confidence. It’s as tough as possible. We have to look at ourselves and try to do the things we can do better, as quickly as possible.
“We take it, stay humble, head down and try to put in the work in the next few days and prepare as good as possible for a tough game.”
Given the recent form both sides have shown domestically and in Europe, it’s easy to see why Shearer – who dubbed City’s midweek draw an “absolute disaster” – has predicted a Liverpool win on this occasion.
