Match Preview
Manchester City will welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium with a guard of honor after the Red finally secured this season's Premier League title. A 30-year wait to lift the coveted league trophy finally came to an end for the Reds following the Citizens' 2-1 defeat to Chelsea last week.
With the title wrapped up, there will not be much to play for going into the mid-week's encounter. While City's status as top-four finishers is also almost confirmed, the objective is to potentially upset Jurgen Klopp's men in their bid to land a record-breaking points haul at the end of the season.
Currently with 86 points from 31 outings, the Merseysiders need to win at least five of their remaining seven matches to beat the 100 points record set by Pep Guardiola's side in the 2017/2018 season. Going into Thursday's fixture, the quest will be daunting but not impossible for a Manchester City side that has won all but one game following the restoration of the season.
Prior to the defeat to Chelsea, the Etihad outfit had won 3-0 and 5-0 against Arsenal and Burnley respectively. Confidence will also be soaring in the camp of the former champions who booked a FA Cup semifinal spot with a 2-0 win over Newcastle on Sunday.
Over the course of the. Citizens have won eight matches and have been defeated twice. At home this season, they have only dropped all three points on just two occasions in 15 outings (W11 D2). Liverpool remains the only team with a better record with 16 successive wins. The form of the Reds away from Anfield has also been second to none considering that they have won 12, drawn two, and lost on just one occasion in 15 outings.
To them, last Thursday's celebrations enacted by Chelsea is another by-product of the functional system methodically instated by Jurgen Klopp in his tenure in charge. However, against Manchester City at the Etihad, the current league holder will be searching for only their second win since the season was restored.
So far, they have drawn away to Everton and have defeated Crystal Palace by four goals to nil. Over the course of the last 10 games in all competitions, Liverpool have lost four times, winning five and drawing the remaining one game.
Team news
Manchester City will be without both Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho for Thursday's clash with Liverpool. The former is yet to recover from a hamstring injury while the latter serves the last of a three-match suspension following his red card against Chelsea. The availability of Eric Garcia is also in doubt with the defender yet to recover fully from a head injury.
Meanwhile, former City star James Milner could be rested in Wednesday's clash after picking up a hamstring injury in the win over Palace. On a positive note, Xherdan Shaqiri resumed training earlier this week and could be involved at a point.
Possible starting XI
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Otamendi, Laporte, Mendy; De Bruyne, Rodri, Foden; Bernardo, Jesus, Sterling.
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Key stats
Manchester City have dropped 30 points this season; that is as many as they did in the previous two seasons combined.
Liverpool have won just once in their last 10 Premier League outings at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City have conceded the opening goal in 11 Premier League matches this season. That is three more than their total in the competition from 2017 to 2019.
Liverpool are aiming to complete a Premier League double over City for only the third time ever.
Broadcast information for Manchester City vs Liverpool
United States: NBCSports.com, UNIVERSO, SiriusXM FC, NBCSN, UNIVERSO NOW, NBC Sports App, Telemundo Deportes En Vivo.
Austrialia: Optus Sport
Canada: DAZN
United Kingdom: BBC Radio Manchester, BBC Radio 5 Live, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Main Event, SKY GO Extra, Sky Sports Premier League.
Check below if the broadcast listings for your country are not listed above:
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