Manchester City welcomes Liverpool for a cracking encounter at the Etihad Stadium to close down the gap with leaders Arsenal and derail the Reds from their top-four ambition.
MCI vs LIV Match Details
Date: Saturday, 1 April 2023
Time: 12:30 (BST) / 17:00 (IST)
Venue: Etihad Stadium
MCI vs LIV Match Preview
Prior to the international break, Manchester City had an incredible month of March winning five games on the spin in all competitions. It comes after Pep Guardiola's side had an inconsistent spell in February. The Premier League holders scored 19 goals in that period keeping a clean sheet in each. 13 of those strikes came in the last two games with a 7-0 record win over RB Leipzig in the last 16 of the Champions League and then smacking Burnley 6-0 in FA Cup quarterfinals with ex-captain Vincent Kompany in the dugout as an opposition manager. Star striker Erling Haaland also got his groove back in those games scoring back-to-back hat tricks to add to his monstrous 42 goals tally for the club since joining in the summer last year. The Norwegian hit the headlines again in the international break not because of the goal machine he is but for his availability doubt against Liverpool due to an injury he sustained while with his nation. City hopes he regains his fitness quickly in the coming month which will determine whether they could retain their Premier League title and get into the last four of the Champions League. Starting off against the Reds, they will bank on their excellent record at home with no loss in the league since 2015 in this fixture. However, they have only won once in the last six meetings against Liverpool in all competitions also losing the reverse fixture at Anfield 1-0 through a Mohamed Salah’s strike in the same scenario of the opposition not having a campaign of their liking.
Registering a historic 7-0 win over Manchester United in the North West derby at Anfield, Liverpool thought they had finally hit the right notes for themselves as they made the journey to Vitality Stadium to face Bournemouth whom they beat 9-0 in another record victory earlier in the campaign. Their misery in away games came to haunt them again with the Reds going down 1-0 to the Cherries in a shocking way. Philip Billing scored in consecutive games for the home side who forced Alisson Becker to make crucial saves with Liverpool missing big chances at the other end early on in the game. The less said about Mohamed Salah’s penalty the better and the Egyptian seem to have shaken the horror miss to equalize the score in the second half completely with two goals with an assist in two games for Egypt in the recent AFCON qualifiers. The 30-year-old is willing to carry that form for his club in the stadium he has scored every time facing Manchester City since 2020. It is another daunting trip for Liverpool in the league after managing only three away wins for the entire season. Their Champions League journey has also ended as their remarkable comeback story against Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu did not happen with their 1-0 loss in the second leg to bow out from the last 16 stage, 6-2 on aggregate. The only way now for the Reds to return back to the competition is by overcoming a seven-point gap to reach the top four in the Premier League.
Recent Form (all competitions)
MCI: WWWWW
LIV: LLWWD
Recent Form (Premier League)
MCI: WWWDW
LIV: LWWDW
MCI vs LIV Team News
Pep Guardiola said Erling Haaland is recovering after picking up a groin injury while on international duty with Norway. His fitness will be accessed in the last training session to know his availability for the clash. If he could not be present, Julian Alvarez will slot in the number nine position for only his seventh start for the club in the Premier League. Meanwhile, Phil Foden is sidelined up to four weeks after undergoing appendix surgery last weekend. He is set to miss the next five games for Manchester City including the first leg against Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Liverpool will not have Luis Diaz ready by this weekend even though the Colombian returned to training earlier this week from his five-month battle with a knee injury. However, Darwin Nunez will definitely be in contention according to manager Jurgen Klopp after picking up a concern with his ankle. Left-back Kostas Tsimikas suffered a rib injury on international duties for Greece and has marked himself a doubt. In any case, he would not have displaced Andrew Robertson after picking up an assist in Scotland’s victories over Cyprus and Spain in Euro qualifiers. Thiago Alcantara (hip), Stefan Bajcetic (thigh) and Calvin Ramsay (knee) all remain out.
MCI vs LIV Head to head
MCI won: 11
Drawn: 19
LIV won: 21
(In the Premier League)
MCI vs LIV Predicted Lineups
MCI: Ederson; Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake; De Bruyne, Rodri, Ilkay Gundogan; Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish
LIV: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Harvey Elliott; Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez
MCI vs LIV Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Becker (8)
DEF: Trent (8.5), Akanji (8), Robertson (8.5)
MID: Salah (9), De Bruyne (8.5), Rodri (9), B Silva (8)
FW: Nunez (9), Haaland (9), Gakpo (8.5)
Vice-captain: Mohamed Salah
Captain: Erling Haaland
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