« on: November 8, 2020, 03:50:00 pm »
Manchester City vs Liverpool, Sunday, November 8, 4.30pm
So here we are, the champions against the pretenders. This game is weird in that it’s a rivalry based on recent form and honours, playing styles and ideology, but with nothing to do with history (although it apparently is enough for its own Wikipedia page). Man City used to be an all right team, with a decent history and a mutual enmity towards their noisy neighbours. Now, with the weight of a morally abominable petrochemical state behind them, a disturbingly high proportion of their fans have gone full-on paranoid and believe there’s a conspiracy against them, despite them seeming to get their own way all the time. Feels weirdly like there's some contemporary parallel, but it isn't coming to mind? 
So what about the match? Amazing as it may seem given their patchy form post-lockdown and relatively average business in the summer, Manchester City were many people’s favourites heading into this season. However, two draws and a loss from their first six games, the loss being a 5-2 defeat against Leicester, and only nine goals, and they seem as mortal as ever. Everyone will doubtless remember the churlish guard of honour we got from them in July just before we got a 4-0 kicking, but the season was pretty much over for us at that point which means we can more or less pretend that result never happened.
We’ve started slowly this year but apart from the Villa game, which the last three years would suggest was a freak result, we’ve gone back to the norm from last season - a results machine. We go into this game back at the top of the league, having scored a late winner against an unfamiliarly decent West Ham team, and although Everton managed to get away with injuring two of our best players, we’ve won five out of five since then, most recently crushing Atalanta 5-0 in a rampant Champions League performance on Tuesday.
So ordinarily, I’d be able to look at recent results and line ups and be able to predict something for this weekend, but given the crazy results, constant rotation, injuries coming out of nowhere and background chaos this season, it feels like a fool’s errand.
HOWEVER...
...having said that, I expect us to go 4-3-3 again, but with Thiago back in full training I think he’ll start to counteract the Pep midfield. The obvious choice is that Jota will start again given his form, but I think Klopp may well opt for a fresh Firmino to run at their defence, with Jota to come on in the second half (though it really is a toss up), and that Rhys Williams will be favoured ahead of Nat Phillips’ aerial ability, should Matip still not be adjudged fit to start. So I reckon:
Alisson
Trent
Matip/Rhys
Gomez
Robbo
Thiago
Hendo
Gini
Salah
Firmino/Jota
Mane
As for City, they’ll probably line up the same way, though De Bruyne has often been playing further forward than the other two this season. I also think Jesus will be back as a number nine. So basically, I predict:
Ederson
Walker
Dias
Laporte
Cancelo
Rodri
Foden
De Bruyne
Torres
Jesus
Sterling
We’ve played against European teams like Arsenal and Chelsea this season and won, and come through tough tests against form teams like Everton and Leeds, but this feels like a real crunch game. Also, c’mon, we have to beat this sorry lot. Never forget what we're up against:
<![CDATA[<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/tn6fNYwtGc4</a>]]>
« Last Edit: November 8, 2020, 05:12:38 pm by Tepid T₂O »
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