It’s always a highly anticipated game when Liverpool face Manchester City. Both sides have an abundance of talent in attacking areas but defensive solidity, or the lack of, is an issue for both clubs; neither are built on solid foundations.
Both sides have question marks in the goalkeeping position. City’s new Brazilian signing Ederson is still a relative unknown quantity in England and we already know how error prone Claudio Bravo can be! As for Liverpool, Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius have not convinced over the past few seasons either.
We all know the issues Liverpool have at centre half with Dejan Lovren always likely to make a mistake. The same can be said at left back too with Alberto Moreno vacating his position on a regular basis.
City have also suffered at the back, with both Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones being liabilities at times. That said, Joel Matip and Vincent Kompany do bring a little bit of assurance to both sides, but it will be interesting to see how both defences cope under pressure against two tremendous attacking units.
The trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino is frightening. They’ve been blowing teams away so far and all three are getting on the scoresheet regularly. At times they look unplayable and a side like City will no doubt come at Liverpool, which should enable us to use our blistering counter attacking skills on the break.
City also have a devastating attacking threat with Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero, who get supplied by the class of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva. Add to that the likes of Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane and it’s clear to see that they have such an array of talent that could destroy any opposition on any given day.
I’m fully expecting goals galore in this game, so I’m going to predict a high scoring draw at The Etihad on Saturday afternoon.
Prediction:
Manchester City 2-2 Liverpool
(Aguero, Jesus / Mane, Salah)
