Liverpool is two thirds of their way through their toughest 8-day stretch of the season currently running at a 100% success rate. First dispatching Aston Villa last week and then absolutely bossing Real Madrid mid-week in the Champions League. Most might look to Sunday’s match as kind of moot; winning 2 out of 3 makes you feel like you’re playing with house money. But the team on the other side of the halfway line is Manchester City.
Taking on the Citizens has been the marquee Premier League match-up
for at least the past decade, with the Premier League trophy being split between the two clubs over the last 8 seasons – with Manchester City with the overwhelming edge at 6 titles to Liverpool’s 2. In most seasons, the results of this fixture would determine the eventual holders of the trophy.
It’s not quite the same over the past three seasons with both City and Liverpool going through their own squad reboots over the past two seasons. City being so far out of the title discussion last year, for example, is a massive outlier in the Pep Guardiola Era. Liverpool’s squad adjustment, meanwhile, is the talk of the season. And while both of these monster clubs struggle to find their footing, Arsenal has emerged as the foil for both.
The stakes aren’t quite as high as when Liverpool and City were trading blows at the top of the table in hopes of dealing the knockout. But given Sunderland’s shock result in their tie against league leaders Arsenal, the result in this match will be a big help in ensuring that Arsenal don’t run away with the league.
Liverpool won’t be looking to take their foot off of the gas then, which should appease fans who don’t believe in any gear except go. And this might be the most compelling tie between the two clubs in recent memory. Given the turnover between the squads in terms of player personnel, the match up itself feels fresh. And that’s all before even discussing a Liverpool side that is in its second year under head coach Arne Slot.
For Liverpool, the potential line-up is hampered by the fact that there are a few key missing players including Alisson Becker, Jeremie Frimpong, and Alexander Isak. This means that Liverpool’s starting XI will likely be the same squad that held Real Madrid to less than one expected goal, with the caveat that perhaps Cody Gakpo steps in at left wing for Florian Wirtz.
It’s tough to fault any rotation at this point – the reason for buying such a deep squad is precisely to be able to rotate. And it’s a credit to Wirtz that he’s created a bit of a selection headache for Arne Slot. Which, I suppose, you can just add to his series of exploits given that the German international was the best creator against Real Madrid.
It all makes for a contest that is truly difficult to handicap. Liverpool are flying high, beating the best team in Europe – at least the best on paper – rather handily and without real threat. Liverpool are seeing signs of life from Florian Wirtz, who looks most likely to join the already firing Hugo Ekitike as summer signings beginning to come good. And we’ve got a midfield so deep that we can afford to rest him and bring on a player the quality of Gakpo in his place.
What tomorrow’s clash may lack in the championship pedigree of previous ties it more than makes up in the unknowns. Which brings its own air of mystique.
But the most important part is it sees both clubs once again in ascendant trajectories. Clubs that have had to face their own mortality after coming closest to touching the divine over the past 10 years, but now are on the other side of that.
Liverpool came into this week needing to find a way to get back into a groove and to feel the rhythm of good football again. It feels like over the past week, the lads have finally found it.
