If Savinho comes good tomorrow, Liverpool could be in for a busy afternoon. — Reuters
Blues will be keen on turning things around
THERE seems to be no better time to take on Premier League champions Manchester City than right now.
Six matches without a win in all competitions, and five of them defeats, this is almost unbelievable – to see the best team in England and Europe collapse. Nothing seems to be going right for Pep Guardiola and his team.
It’s heartbreaking for City’s fans to see them concede 17 goals in their last six matches.
The simple fact is that City are missing Rodri. The influential Spanish midfielder is out for the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
From the back to the front, not a single player has performed exceptionally well.
Injuries and fitness issues with some of their key players over the past few weeks have also been a factor.
Injuries to Ruben Dias, Kevin de Bruyne and Jeremy Doku over the past couple of months have also adversely impacted the team’s performance.
Without de Bruyne, City just seem to lack that attacking edge and drive, which has in turn affected Erling Haaland’s goalscoring form.
Phil Foden, the 2024 Premier League Player of the Season, has significantly diminished from his previous form.
Having scored 19 league goals and provided eight assists last season, the 24-year-old has only picked up one assist so far this term.
Summer signing Savinho, who played well in the first few games of the season, also seems to have fizzled out.
Josko Gvardiol, once primed as the best centre-back in the world, made several woeful mistakes that led to goals.
Fortunately for City, most of the players who were out injured have recovered since, except for Doku, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb.
Morale has been rock bottom, and the boos that rang out around the Etihad Stadium after their drawn Champions League match with Feyenoord should be a wake-up call for the side.
Guardiola will need to find ways to turn things around before they visit Liverpool tomorrow, when the Reds will start with an edge.
Liverpool fans will be thinking of “striking while the iron is hot”, and no one can blame them.
After the convincing 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League match in midweek, Arne Slot’s side will no doubt be full of confidence. However, he must maintain his team’s composure and avoid complacency, as Guardiola’s team is likely to unleash their full potential.
In big matches like these, mistakes can quickly go awry.
Slot does also have some concerns, as Ibrahima Konate and man of the match Conor Bradley suffered injuries in the win over Real Madrid.
The Dutch head coach is already without a handful of players, including Diogo Jota, Federico Chiesa, Kostas Tsimikas and Alisson Becker, and he will be hopeful that the Konate and Bradley injuries are minor.
Slot will face another challenging month in December, and he will be hoping that his squad is fit and prepared to play, given the rapid number of games. He will have to navigate nine matches through the end of the year.
After the City match, the Reds travel to Newcastle in midweek, before the Merseyside derby at Everton two days later.
With 10 wins out of 12 games so far and only one loss, Slot’s table-topping team is undoubtedly the dominant side in the Premier League.
The Anfield fans are in dreamland at the moment, hoping to get up in a shock and find that it’s May already – only to realise that champions Man City await in what should be a nail-biter on Merseyside.
