Why Manchester City are in dire need of a positive result against Liverpool

Here we are in early November and many out there already believe Liverpool will end up winning its first English Premier League title since 1990. Could the 30 years of nightmares finally be over for the Reds? It feels that way, but only one team will be able to stop them: Manchester City. 

City have won the league in back-to-back years, but currently stand six points behind Liverpool in the standings. That’s what makes Sunday’s contest at Anfield even more important for the two sides. 

With a Liverpool win, it’d put them nine points clear of Man City. While there’s still plenty of soccer left to be played this season, could you really see Jurgen Klopp, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Co. suffering many negative results the rest of the way? Enough for City to catch up?

In their first 11 matches of league play, Liverpool has won 10 games and only posted one draw at Old Trafford against Manchester United. That start to the season is nothing short of remarkable. They’ll be favored to win on Sunday, but any kind of a positive result for City is crucial for their hopes of 3-peating. Even a draw and getting a point would be massive. 

Ederson went down with an injury earlier this week in a Champions League match and will miss Sunday’s clash. All eyes will be on Chilean keeper Claudio Bravo to step in and keep Liverpool in check. Extra pressure will be on Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero, Kyle Walker and others to not let Ederson’s absence affect the team. As for Liverpool, you know they’ve had this game circled on their calendar for a while. 

Goal threats Mane and Salah will be itching to get inside the box to try and get a shot past Bravo. Should they deliver for their club and Liverpool leaves Anfield with the three points, we very well could end up looking back to this game as what sealed things for them in raising the trophy this spring.