Foden will be keen on celebrating again tomorrow, this time against Liverpool. — Reuters
BUOYED by a couple of hard-earned victories in the space of three days this week, Liverpool know full well that a third in a row, as difficult as it will be – at Manchester City in the late game tomorrow – would certainly resurrect talk of a possible crack at retaining their league title.
The Reds endured a bitter October during which they lost their lead at the top of Premier League standings and now find themselves third and seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal.
Humbling times, indeed, for a team that won the title last season in fine style and then won each of their seven opening matches across all competitions in this campaign – only to come unstuck, in a manner that rattled the foundations of Anfield.
They lost six of seven games between Sept 26 and Oct 30, four of those in the Premiership.
But a tough yet composed victory over Aston Villa in the league last Saturday and then the superlative triumph over the mighty Real Madrid in the Champions League in midweek, have fired a renewed spirit through the team, and supporters.
Despite this, though, Arne Slot and his gallant assembly of stars will concede that City are the last team they’d have chosen to play this weekend as they endeavour to continue their mini revival.
Still, Slot will be expected to have further fine-tuned his preparations for a clash that holds great promise of sheer entertainment.
It is just as important to either side in their quest for supremacy and consolidation as it is for their efforts to win the title.
Between them, City and Liverpool have won the last eight league titles.
The Manchester team did it eight times in that period and Liverpool twice – 2020 being their other success, and one which helped them on their way to a record 20th league championship crown last season.
Both sides will field line-ups missing key players, ruled out through injury. City central midfielder Mateo Kovacic will be one of those absent from the home game at the Etihad tomorrow.
Liverpool’s injury concerns surround goalkeeper Alisson Becker, right-back Jeremie Frimpong and striker Alexander Isak, with long-term absentee Giovanni Leoni still recovering from an ACL tear.
Of the two teams, the Merseysiders appear to be slightly better set for the showdown than the opposition, at least in terms of hunger to win.
It should be mentioned with haste though, that form and all the other stuff that goes with the hype attached to these big fixtures don’t often count for much when the game is underway.
Still, the visitors will be pleased with how things went against Villa – who came into that game with four wins on the trot. And then the demolition of Madrid.
A bit more of that and the Merseysiders should be nicely poised to take on City, themselves in good form of late: seven played, seven wins.
City’s midweek Champions League thumping of Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad was clear illustration of that – and where Phil Foden got in on the act with two of the home team’s four goals.
Liverpool’s latest win over the Spaniards at Anfield was characterised by several positives, not least that they played as a compact and cohesive unit.
The contributions of wingback Conor Bradley and Florian Wirtz were standout performances.
The former’s stranglehold on the movements of marauding Madrid winger Vinicius Junior led to a man-of-the-match rating, and deservedly so.
Playing down the left of the middle of the park, Wirtz weighed in considerably to win back possession and was crucial to Liverpool’s high press. This offered Dominik Szoboszlai the chance to shine as the number 10, and he did.
Equally impressive was Alexis Mac Allister, who seems to be nearing his best form again after having recently returned from injury.
He got the winner that knocked the stuffing out of Real Madrid.
Skipper Virgil van Dijk, largely responsible for keeping Kylian Mbappe at bay in midweek, will have another tall order when he bids to do much of the same to the league’s most prolific striker at the moment, Erling Haaland.
Just as Haaland seems to have gotten over his injuries and poor form of the past year and a bit, so too have Man City returned to the sort of form that saw them win an unprecedented four league titles in a row, prior to Liverpool’s domination.
With Liverpool regaining their confidence and City looking like a polished Pep Guardiola side of old, this fixture could treat us to a feast of football.
It has promise for more than just one goal, and perhaps that might be all it takes to separate these two giants of English and European football – just one goal.
