11:30 ET Canada-USA
Venue: Anfield
Liverpool welcomes Manchester City to Anfield, in what will be the 10th round of the season in the English top flight.
Liverpool
After a surprisingly slow start to 2022/23, the mood around the Liverpool campfire has significantly improved since Wednesday, when they returned from Glasgow with a comprehensive victory over Rangers in the Champions League. However, Jurgen Klopp and his men surely won’t want to get overconfident in a few days; after all, it’s not Rangers whom they’ll face on Sunday.
Nonetheless, Klopp will have been thrilled about the explosion that happened when Mohamed Salah came onto the pitch, even though the game was practically won by then. The Egyptian replaced Darwin Nunez in the 68th minute, and just 13 minutes later, he had a hat-trick in his bag. Six minutes 12 seconds passed between his first and third strike, constituting the fastest hat-trick in the history of the Champions League. It will have been a most-welcome boost for a much-criticized Salah ahead of this clash.
Be that as it may, Liverpool still have work to do to get through their Champions League group, but a point in either of the two remaining matches would be enough.
Over in the Premier League, meanwhile, it’s much more complicated. Following the defeat to Arsenal last week, which saw them bereft of the services of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip and Luis Diaz for a while, Liverpool are in 10th place with 10 points, below newly promoted teams like Bournemouth and Fulham. It should, on the other hand, be said that they still have a game in hand on most of the league.
The Merseysiders’ last-six run consists of a 4-1 defeat away to Napoli, a 2-1 win at home over Ajax, a 3-3 draw at home against Brighton and Hove Albion, a 2-0 win at home over Rangers, the 3-2 defeat at the Emirates, and the 1-7 win in Glasgow this week.
Manchester City
Despite being second to Arsenal in the Premier League table with a two-point deficit at the moment, it’s questionable if there’s anyone not tipping City to win another title in the English top flight.
With Erling Haaland as their main attacking threat (15 goals in nine league matches so far), Kevin De Bruyne obviously has the perfect forward ahead to showcase the full extent of his vast playmaking abilities. There are, of course, other top-quality players in Pep Guardiola’s team, but stopping this particular partnership seems to be the first step to try and take for anyone aiming not be beaten.
City have secured a place in the first knockout stage of the Champions League already, and all that remains to be resolved from their point of view is whether they’ll finish top of the group or second to Haaland’s former club Borussia Dortmund. The Norwegian’s emotional return to the Signal Iduna Park with City is set to take place on October 25th.
Match Preview
As for their last-six run, City beat Dortmund at the Etihad by 2-1, beat Wolverhampton Wanderers away by 0-3, smashed Manchester United 6-3 in the Derby at home, as well as Copenhagen 5-0 and Southampton 4-0. They played Copenhagen in Denmark earlier this week and that was the only match they failed win, as it ended goalless after Sergio Gomez earned a straight red card half an hour in.
LIVE: Liverpool vs Manchester City | EPL Derby
11:30 ET Canada-USA
