Much has been made of Liverpool's outstanding record against the giants of the Premier League this season and Jurgen Klopp and his players deserve a huge amount of credit for picking up 19 points from matches against the top six teams in the standings. However, while six of those points have over the last 30 days, the Merseyside giants have showed chinks in their armour since the turn of the year and they are making the short trip to the Etihad Stadium to face Manchester City at the wrong time.
When the reverse fixture took place at Anfield on New Year's Eve, City put in one of their worst performances of the season, despite only suffering a 1-0 defeat. Sergio Aguero had just returned from a four-match suspension and was largely ineffective against a Liverpool backline which has previously helped guide their side to 10 points from their previous four games in England's top flight. Times have changed, however, and at the same time Liverpool have won just four of their last 14 outings in all competitions, City have put together an 11-game unbeaten run and have never looked so solid in defence.
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Liverpool can potentially take confidence from their performance at the Etihad last season because on that evening, they were scintillating in the final third. The manner of that 4-1 triumph also gave the impression that Klopp was the so-called messiah and Plan Bs were rarely going to be required under his guidance. That said, there have been 81 games since that contest and the one taking place on Sunday afternoon and Liverpool have neither improved, nor been able to find the kind of consistency which is going to take Klopp any nearer to the Premier League title than his predecessor Brendan Rodgers.
On Sunday, he introduced 17-year-old Ben Woodburn for the final 30 minutes when they required a goal against Burnley and it could be perceived that it was a display of faith in youth. Rather than it being considered a positive, however, it showed that Klopp is losing faith in Philippe Coutinho, who has scored just one goal and provided one assist in his last 12 matches. Roberto Firmino is expected to return to the squad after being sidelined for the Burnley clash, but Liverpool need his Brazilian teammate to recapture his best form if they are to threaten a resolute City backline which had kept seven clean sheets in 11 matches heading into their Champions League meeting with AS Monaco on Wednesday night.
Despite just a point separating the two teams in the league table, many bookmakers will have City as the favourites to prevail so this bonus code may come in handy if you are looking to get the most out of a bet on this match. Liverpool should not be written off by any means but if City can replicate their form of the last two months, it could be a long 90 minutes for Klopp's men.
