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These sides played out a 1-1 draw last time they met here in Manchester. Their 2-2 draw at Anfield early this season remains one of the games of the season with Mohamed Salah scoring a goal of the season contender that was wiped out by Kevin De Bruyne. With this being hyped as the title decider that neither side can afford to lose, we think they end up cancelling each other out once more.
Therefore, 101 Great Goals’ prediction for this match is Manchester City 2 – 2 Liverpool and is available at odds of 13/1.
Alternatively, you can bet on any Manchester City win at 1.95/1 against Liverpool at home on Sunday.
Or, back any away win for Liverpool at 3.6/1 here at the City of Manchester Stadium.
You can find odds of 3.75/1 for any draw between Manchester City and Liverpool on Sunday.
Bet on Manchester City vs Liverpool at bet365 by clicking here.
Match preview
The Reds have the upper hand in the head-to-head, with 20 wins to Manchester City’s 11, from their 49 encounters in the Premier League. However, in the Guardiola vs Klopp era, things are very evenly split with five wins apiece and four draws, in all competitions. Things are trending in favour of Pep too, with four of the first six matches between them won by Klopp and four of the last seven won by Guardiola.
Pep Guardiola calls Liverpool a “pain in the ass.” 🤣🤣🤣
In his talk with @Pschmeichel1 on @CBSSportsGolazo #ManCity pic.twitter.com/oN5lCDSxR3
— TennisHugs (@TennisHugs) February 15, 2022
Regardless of the outcome, it should be a thrilling match for the neutrals tunning in from around the world. Four of the last five games have produced over 2.5 goals and average just a scratch below four goals per game. Odds of 1.67/1 suggest another over 2.5 goal game is expected here.
In the past at times in certain big games Pep Guardiola has tried to stifle his own attacking instincts to reduce the number of chances in games in the way most opponents do against his City side. It has rarely paid dividends for him though which means we are likely to see another high-scoring classic rather than the 0-0 draw in 2018; the only goalless draw between these managers in 22 games since they first faced each other in Germany in 2013 in a 4-2 win for Klopp’s Dortmund.
There is also the potential for fireworks here from the managers on the touchline. Guardiola held two fingers up at the sky while screaming “twice” in disbelief as his side had failed to be awarded a penalty on two occasions for handball against Trent Alexander-Arnold when these sides last met here in November 2020. Meanwhile, Klopp famously had an on the pitch argument with Sunday’s VAR official Paul Tierney in December after his team’s 2-2 draw against Spurs while saying “the only referee I have a problem with is you”.
Anthony Taylor is the referee here and is widely considered one of England’s top officials representing his country in international competitions around the world. However, Liverpool fans were “furious” with the decision to put a referee from Manchester in charge of a “title decider”. They highlighted his failure to send of Vincent Kompany for a last-man tackle on Mohamed Salah in a previous match dubbed a title decided between the two in the 2018/19 season. Of course, fans of every team will have a list as long as their arm of times a particular referee failed to give a big decision in their favour.
This all merely adds to the spectacle of the two best attacking sides in the country, if not the world, going head to head with a league title up for grabs and a lot of recent animosity between players, fans, the managers and even the officials over the last six years. Clear your afternoon for this one as it should be an absolute cracker!
Mohamed Salah Goalscorer. – The Egyptian international has been struggling for form since defeat in the AFCON final against Senegal back in February. He has just one non-penalty goal in his eight league appearances since his return and missed several big chances on Tuesday night in Lisbon against Benfica. Mo was the star man for Liverpool against City earlier this season, creating the first for Mané before scoring from a mazy dribble that may have stirred memories of Georgi Kinkladze among the City fans. This means Salah (pictured above) is still the favourite amongst those in Red to score the game’s opener on Sunday at 6.5/1. Or 2.7/1 to bag a goal at any time during the game against the Cityzens.
Manchester City team news
Ruben Dias (pictured above) will be the big absence in this match. The Portuguese international defender suffered a thigh injury towards the end of March ruling him out for four to six weeks. Aymeric Laporte and John Stones will form a partnership at the back in his absence. Cole Palmer, who has only made one league appearance for City this season, is also ruled out with an ankle problem.
Benjamin Mendy remains suspended by the club pending an outcome of police investigations. The left back has been charged with seven counts of rape and faces another court hearing in May in advance of his trial in July. João Cancelo is the most likely option to start at left back here.
Liverpool team news
There were concerns late in the game on Tuesday in Lisbon that Fabinho (pictured above) had suffered a concussion. The defensive midfielder took a blow to his head and stayed down needing treatment for several minutes. However, Klopp confirmed he merely had a cut to the back of his head and he should be completely fine for Sunday.
With a full squad available, Klopp has been rotating heavily over the past months. On Tuesday we saw Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota, Jordan Henderson, Joe Gomez, Curtis Jones and Joel Matip all replaced from the starting XI that faced Watford last weekend. At least half of these players will be expected to return to the starting XI here to face City.
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