Premier League Resumes with Huge Clash at the Etihad

Jaggat Rashidi / Shutterstock.com

The international week is over and domestic league action resumes across Europe, with the pick of the weekend’s action coming at the Etihad Stadium.  Manchester City host Liverpool in a mouth-watering Premier League match on Saturday afternoon.

Since the 2008/09 season, Manchester City have finished 5th or better in the Premier League and have won the title twice. Last season was the first under the guidance of Pep Guardiola and things did not go exactly to plan.

Many onlookers had Manchester City down as their favourites for the title but they struggled at times last season and finished third in the Premier League table.  Having spent considerable sums of money in the summer, Manchester City fans are hoping for more from this campaign.

Liverpool finished fourth last season, 2 points behind their upcoming opponents. It was a good first season in charge at Anfield for Jurgen Klopp and he has taken the club back to the group stages of the Champions League.

The question is, can he take Liverpool to their first league title since 1989/90?  A victory in this match will strengthen the belief he can.

However, this will be a tough match for Liverpool as trends show Manchester City are undefeated in their last thirteen home Premier League games and their last eleven league games, both home and away.

In those unbeaten eleven games, there have been eight wins and three draws.  Scoring goals has not been a problem and at home, trends show Manchester City have failed to score in only two of their previous twenty-three Premier League games.

However, they have kept just six clean sheets across those twenty-three matches.

Liverpool make the short trip to the Etihad Stadium on the back of a great 4-0 home win against Arsenal last time out. Liverpool dominated the match from start to finish and could easily have won the game by a bigger margin.

Trends show Liverpool are undefeated in their last nine matches in all competitions and have not lost any of their last seven away matches. They have also lost just five of their last thirty-nine league games, which highlights what a tough team they are to beat.

Away from home in the Premier League, Liverpool have won four and drawn two of their last six games and kept three cleans sheets in their last four.  However, their defending left a lot to be desired in their only away league game of this season, when they left Watford with a 3-3 draw.

Looking ahead to the team news and Pep Guardiola will need to judge the fitness of Gabriel Jesus, Sergio Aguero and Nicolas Otamendi following the international fixtures.  Jurgen Klopp will also need to do the same with Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, who were all in World Cup qualifying action.  It remains to be seen if Philippe Coutinho will be involved.

This is set to be a hugely exciting game and although there were not many goals between the teams last season, that should change here.  It is difficult to split the teams on current form and a draw with both teams scoring seems like a good option.