Meetings between Liverpool and Manchester City have become the most anticipated fixtures in the Premier League calendar – and they’ve rarely disappointed in recent years.
Take last season, when the title rivals shared four goals at both Anfield and the Etihad Stadium, trading blows throughout and ultimately sharing the spoils.
This Sunday’s clash at Anfield will have a slightly different feel. While City, powered by the goals of Erling Haaland, look every inch title contenders again, Liverpool have endured a sluggish start.
Meetings between Liverpool and Manchester City have become true highlights of the season
Jurgen Klopp (left) and Pep Guardiola (right) will pit their wits again at Anfield on Sunday
They could easily be in the bottom half of the table by kick-off and a defeat would leave them 16 points behind City, a huge margin even at this relatively early juncture.
It’s imperative that Jurgen Klopp, therefore, gets his game plan spot on to stop Pep Guardiola’s City juggernaut and keep themselves in the race.
Sportsmail takes a look at some of the tactical talking points ahead of the heavyweight contest.
How do you stop Haaland?
The million dollar question among all Premier League managers right now – how on earth do you stop the super-prolific Erling Haaland?
20 goals in his first 13 City appearances, including three hat-tricks, have destroyed any optimistic notion the Norwegian would struggle to handle English football.
Liverpool will hope Haaland has an off-day, or at least a quieter afternoon than normal, and they can take some comfort from their win in the Community Shield back in August.
Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk and City’s Erling Haaland duel it out during the Community Shield
Haaland had just 16 touches all afternoon and missed chances that he would now put away. Virgil van Dijk largely had the measure of him as Liverpool laid down a marker for the season with a 3-1 win.
However, the flip side is that Haaland wasn’t fully match fit that afternoon having had limited training time with his new City colleagues following that £51m move from Borussia Dortmund.
Van Dijk, who is likely to partner Ibrahima Konate at the back once again in Joel Matip’s absence, will come up against a very different Haaland this time around.
The Dutchman has come in for criticism at times this season for switching off during games or backing off opponents and he won’t be able to do either on Sunday.
There is a genuine mutual respect between the pair, who have praised one another in the past
Haaland was 19 when he scored for Red Bull Salzburg against Liverpool at Anfield in the Champions League group stages in 2019, a tap-in to make it 3-3 after he ghosted in behind Joe Gomez and Trent Alexander-Arnold.
In the return game, Van Dijk succeeded in keeping Haaland quiet as Liverpool won 2-0 in Austria.
At the time, Haaland described Van Dijk as the strongest opponent he has faced and last year said the Dutchman was a ‘physical monster’.
Haaland has scored at Anfield before, for Red Bull Salzburg in the Champions League in 2019
In evidence of a mutual respect, Van Dijk said ‘Haaland is a special striker, because he is so strong. He’s quick, he’s got all the attributes to make a defender’s life very difficult.’
Haaland is strong but so is Van Dijk and as long as the defender sticks close enough he can win enough of their duels to keep City’s main threat at arm’s length.
However, he must guard against the mental lapses that would allow Haaland to either sneak in behind him or take a shot when not closed down quickly enough.
It’s certainly going to be the most fascinating battle of the afternoon.
Haaland is setting new standards with 20 goals since he arrived at Man City in the summer
Will midfield battle prompt another formation switch?
Following Liverpool’s sluggish start to the season, Klopp made the radical decision to ditch his usual 4-3-3 formation in favour of some experimentation.
In the 2-0 home Champions League win over Rangers, he played a fluid 4-2-3-1 that at times resembled a 4-2-4 because of the extra attacker.
At Arsenal, he went with the 4-2-3-1 shape once again but with less success as they went down 3-2.
In the return at Ibrox on Wednesday night, an emphatic 7-1 win, Liverpool lined up with more of a 4-4-2.
So the changes have worked in Europe but didn’t come off against league leaders Arsenal and it must be remembered that Rangers aren’t especially strong opposition.
Klopp’s formation switches had the desire effect against Rangers – but not in the Arsenal loss
On Sunday, Klopp may be tempted to revert to the traditional 4-3-3 to match City and reduce the risk of being overrun in the all-important midfield battle.
Guardiola has an embarrassment of midfield riches – he could go with Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri or Ilkay Gundogan in his midfield three.
In both meetings last year, he went with De Bruyne, Silva and Rodri, and you wouldn’t be surprised if City stick with that combination on Sunday because it offers a bit of steel and plenty of sparkle.
Liverpool would be wise to match City’s three man-for-man or otherwise risk being hit on the counter.
It was a disastrous defensive display in the 3-3 draw with Brighton that promoted the switch
Fabinho and Jordan Henderson started at Ibrox and Thiago could be added to the midfield mix.
Mind you, the last time the trio played together was the 3-3 draw with Brighton the other week that prompted Klopp to make the tactical changes.
Few players at Liverpool are enjoying brilliant seasons but 19-year-old Harvey Elliott is. With his confidence sky-high, perhaps he could be Klopp’s ace in the pack.
Elliott has been held back in the last two league fixtures but he would relish the chance to get stuck into City and he has shown he is ready for such big occasions.
Harvey Elliott was thrilled to get on the scoresheet – after a VAR check – against Rangers
Compensating for the injured Diaz
Liverpool will need all the attacking threat they can muster to go toe-to-toe with City, so the knee injury Luis Diaz suffered at Arsenal is a big blow.
The Colombian had started the season with four goals and three assists but could now be out until after the World Cup.
Diogo Jota would be the obviously replacement for Diaz on the left side of the attack, though the Portuguese has been used in more central positions this season.
His output in terms of assists has been pretty good so he should be able to offer Liverpool a spark.
Liverpool were dealt another injury blow when Luis Diaz went off against Arsenal last Sunday
Darwin Nunez scored against City in the Community Shield and ended a lengthy wait for a goal at Ibrox in the week.
Liverpool spent £85m on the Uruguayan for him to deliver in matches such as Sunday’s and a goal would stop some of the comparisons with Haaland.
Mohamed Salah, who scored that quickfire hat-trick at Rangers, has an excellent record against City and has often provided Liverpool’s moments of inspiration in the past.
Mohamed Salah was in unstoppable form as he scored a rapid-fire hat-trick at Ibrox
Despite Liverpool’s home advantage, you’d still expect City to enjoy most of the ball.
The Reds will press ferociously, of course, with that hard graft beginning with Salah, Nunez and Jota in attack.
They will have to take advantage of the moments of ascendancy that come their way in the game and should have enough up front to cause City’s back line problems.
Is Alexander-Arnold’s absence a help or hindrance?
Another Liverpool injury absence for Sunday is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who twisted his ankle against Arsenal.
Joe Gomez slotted in at right-back for the Rangers game, having also replaced Alexander-Arnold when he went off at the Emirates.
Alexander-Arnold hasn’t started the season too well and there’s been plenty of criticism of his defensive performances, though the player would counter his attacking threat compensates.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will also miss the game with City after suffering an ankle injury
April’s league meeting at the Etihad was quite a good example. Alexander-Arnold was outstanding going forward, and played a role in both Liverpool’s goals, but he switched off to allow Gabriel Jesus to score at the back post.
It would probably have been a similar story on Sunday so it’s likely Gomez will offer Liverpool a little bit more defensive stability to contain City’s threat.
But he won’t be able to offer the same passing range and crossing ability as the man he has replaced.
On balance, however, with Liverpool still looking fragile in defence and City set to attack them from all angles, it could be a blessing in disguise that Alexander-Arnold is out.
The right-back’s defending has left plenty to be desired at times so far this season
Winning the psychological battle
The mind games ahead of this fixture started when Klopp said ‘nobody in the world can cope’ with Haaland at the moment.
It was a tried and tested ploy by the Reds boss to deflect a little of the pressure off his players ahead of a big game. He was similarly complimentary about Arsenal and Man United earlier in the campaign.
The fact Liverpool are in mid-table allows the their manager to heap all of the pressure onto City ahead of this one.
Klopp would love for City to be lulled into a false sense of security and believe that his team’s powers are now diminished.
In truth, Guardiola is unlikely to fall for that. Regardless of where Liverpool are in the table, a visit to Anfield is always one of the toughest games of the season.
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