{"id":270847,"date":"2025-11-08T10:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T10:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/270847\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T10:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T10:40:12","slug":"manchester-city-vs-liverpool-premier-league-team-news-start-lineups-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/270847\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City vs Liverpool: Premier League \u2013 team news, start, lineups | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who: Manchester City vs Liverpool
What: English Premier League
Where:\u00a0Etihad Stadium, Manchester
When:\u00a0Sunday at 4:30pm (16:30 GMT)
How to follow:\u00a0We\u2019ll have all the build-up on\u00a0Al Jazeera Sport<\/a> from 13:30 GMT in advance of our live text commentary stream.<\/p>\n

Games between Manchester City and Liverpool have often been regarded as key battles in Premier League title races in recent seasons, but Sunday\u2019s encounter may merely point to which of the two clubs is best equipped to try to chase league leaders Arsenal.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

By the time the weekend\u2019s big game kicks off at the Etihad Stadium, Arsenal \u2013 who visit surprise-package Sunderland on Saturday \u2013 could be 10 points clear of champions Liverpool and nine ahead of Pep Guardiola\u2019s City.<\/p>\n

That scenario would increase the pressure on City and Liverpool, who head into the last round of fixtures before another international stoppage second and third respectively.<\/p>\n

There are signs that both clubs are finding form. City have lost only once in their last 13 games in all competitions and on Wednesday pummelled Borussia Dortmund 4-1 in the Champions League with Erling Haaland scoring his 18th club goal this season and a rejuvenated Phil Foden bagging a brace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liverpool have also emerged from a run of six defeats in seven matches in all competitions to beat Aston Villa<\/a> and Real Madrid in their last two games.<\/p>\n

Guardiola \u2018desperate to play against Liverpool\u2019<\/p>\n

City lost home and away to the Reds last season as they were dethroned as champions, and City boss Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised at Liverpool\u2019s stumbles this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, but sometimes it\u2019s about momentum,\u201d Guardiola stated. \u201cAll the clubs are there except Arsenal, who are more consistent than anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the season is long, so we try to be there and see what happens. To be hones,t I\u2019m so excited and happy to prepare for Sunday. I\u2019m desperate to play against Liverpool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TOPSHOTGuardiola on the touchline during his side\u2019s 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund [Oli Scarff\/AFP]Foden is \u2018back\u2019 warns City\u2019s boss<\/p>\n

The City and England forward lit up the win over Dortmund, scoring twice to register his first European goals this season and double his tally in all competitions.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s star academy graduate struggled for much of last season, opening up about off-field issues and injuries that affected him, but the signs are that the 25-year-old is back to his best, having been the stand-out player in City\u2019s Premier League-winning 2023\/24 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil is back,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cHow many times have we seen Phil score these type of goals? We miss this a lot last season but this season I think he is going to help us a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guardiola added, \u201cHe\u2019s a special player [and] we need his goals and hopefully today was the first step to do it. It\u2019s important to have him for the big, big match on Sunday [against Liverpool].\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MANCHESTER,Foden grabbed a brace against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday [Carl Recine\/Getty Images]Van Dijk says Liverpool must build from the back<\/p>\n

Prior to a 2-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday, Liverpool had gone 10 matches without a clean sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is easy to say now because we won twice in a row. In a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things,\u201d captain Virgil van Dijk said. \u201cWe all know how football works \u2013 it can change overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liverpool face another huge test of their title defence on Sunday when Van Dijk faces Haaland, who has struck 26 times this season for club and country.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances,\u201d added Van Dijk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the quality to hurt anyone on the break \u2013 it starts with the defending. Today, you saw the hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep going. Sunday is going to be another difficult one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,Van Dijk celebrates as Alexis Mac Allister, not pictured, scores against Real Madrid [Carl Recine\/Getty Images]Slot looking forward to \u2018Clasico\u2019 against City<\/p>\n

Liverpool boss Arne Slot said he was not surprised by his team\u2019s return to form to win their last two games, but warned that playing at Manchester City would pose a far more difficult challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur main focus is on consistency at the moment, as you know we\u2019ve lost a few games, much more than we usually do \u2026 We were consistent but we were consistently losing. That wasn\u2019t the idea,\u201d a laughing Slot told reporters ahead of Sunday\u2019s clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a surprise for me how the last two games went. It was helpful that the other team did what we expected them to do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Slot said Guardiola\u2019s City were his immediate focus rather than the league table.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimilar to the \u2018Clasico,\u2019 these are the few games everyone is looking forward to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I like about Pep Guardiola\u2019s teams is that 10 out of 10 times you get what you are hoping for \u2013 a great game of football, no time wasting or those kinds of things that I start to dislike more and more about football,\u201d Slot said.<\/p>\n

Head-to-head<\/p>\n

Liverpool boast by far the better win ratio from the two clubs\u2019 218 encounters, with the Reds winning 110 matches, City winning 60, and 58 ending as draws.<\/p>\n

The Reds\u2019 league double over City last year included a 2-0 win at the Etihad in February, courtesy of goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai, that sent the eventual champions 11 points clear<\/a> of City.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s last win over the Reds was a 4-1 thrashing at the Etihad in April 2023, on a tense day that included an apparent attack by Liverpool fans on the City team bus and Guardiola being accused of disrespectfully celebrating directly in front of Liverpool substitutes.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s team news<\/p>\n

Guardiola seems to have the luxury of a fully-fit squad to choose from, with talismanic midfielder Rodri set to come into the team after recovering from injury to likely form a double-pivot with Nico Gonzalez.<\/p>\n

While left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri has recovered from injury, Nico O\u2019Reilly has excelled in his absence and may be the one tasked with trying to shackle Salah.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s predicted starting lineup<\/p>\n

Donnarumma; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O\u2019Reilly; Rodri, Gonzalez; Cherki, Foden, Doku; Haaland<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s team news<\/p>\n

The Reds\u2019 first choice keeper Alisson Becker remains injured, but Liverpool have the impressive Giorgi Mamardashvili to rely on between the sticks instead.<\/p>\n

Slot confirmed that record signing Alexander Isak may be fit enough to make the squad following a groin problem but he may not be risked, while Curtis Jones is back in training after also suffering a groin injury.<\/p>\n

Conor Bradley put in a sensational defensive display against Real Madrid in midweek and will surely retain his spot at right-back with Jeremie Frimpong ruled out for another six weeks, while Andy Robertson also impressed at left-back and may start again as new signing Milos Kerkez continues to adjust to life at Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s predicted starting lineup<\/p>\n

Mamardashvili; Bradley, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Szoboszlai, Wirtz; Ekitike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who: Manchester City vs LiverpoolWhat: English Premier LeagueWhere:\u00a0Etihad Stadium, ManchesterWhen:\u00a0Sunday at 4:30pm (16:30 GMT)How to follow:\u00a0We\u2019ll have all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,2057,596,44,588,85,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-270847","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}