Key events
Big calls from the stats men.
Some additional Salah news.
Jim Morrish emails: “In the spirit of sporting corinthianism for which I’m renowned I have to say that once it’s a great and fair game I really don’t care who wins today as long as LFC end the proceedings with all three points.”
May the best team win.
Jurgen Klopp: “We never thought about starting Salah today. We can bring him on, which is pretty cool.”
Thankfully, for society, I have written about Kelleher.
It is a big afternoon for the Liverpool back five. Kelleher, Bradley and Quansah are still relatively inexperienced at this level and Gomez is playing out of position at left-back. Only Manchester City to stop …
There is no shortage of pre-match reading.
Starting lineups
Liverpool (4-3-3): Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Gomez; Endo, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Diaz, Nunez, Elliott.
Substitutes: Adrian, Robertson, Tsimikas, Salah, Gakpo, McConnell, Clark, Nallo, Koumas.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva; Foden, Haaland, Alvarez
Subs: Ortega, Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis.
Preamble
Does it get any bigger than this in mid-March? Not really. For many this could be a title decider but there is still a way to go in the season – the most important thing is that there is real competition to be Premier League champions. Both teams are in great form and will be eager to further prove their credentials with victory at Anfield today, especially after Arsenal defeated Brentford yesterday.
Liverpool have a few injury problems and Mohamed Salah only returned for 15 minutes against Sparta Prague on Thursday night after a month out. They have looked fearless in recent months, so will not be worried about Pep Guardiola et al pitching up on Merseyside. Liverpool had to travel to Prague in midweek which cannot have helped but they will be fit and firing come kick-off.
City have enjoyed an extra day of rest and did not need to travel, instead waltzing to a home victory over Copenhagen in the Champions League, resting a few big hitters in the process.
We should be in for a tense but an enjoyable afternoon.
Kick-off: 3.45pm GMT.
