Manchester City Presents Acid Test For Liverpool’s Title Credentials

When Liverpool takes on Manchester City on Saturday, one of the top two clubs in the Premier League, they intend to show that they are once again serious contenders for the championship. During a time of supremacy under Pep Guardiola’s direction, the Reds have been City’s most dependable opponent. In the past six seasons, City has only lost the English championship once, and that was in 2019–20, when Liverpool won their first title in thirty years.

They overcame Jurgen Klopp’s squad by a single point in thrilling championship games in 2018/19 and 2021/22. But Arsenal was the team that pushed City to the brink of an unprecedented quadruple of titles the year before, and Liverpool fell to fifth place the following season. Even though Klopp has called his resurrected team “Liverpool 2.0,” he admits that his new team will need some time to reach the level of his previous Anfield sides. Liverpool now lead the standings, one point behind City, having only lost once in 12 Premier League games this season—in a very dramatic fashion at Tottenham in September.

Klopp said, “We decided last year we had to change a lot.” “We are at the moment going in the right direction and that’s really important.” Nevertheless, they must still prove that they are capable of competing with the unstoppable city machine for the entire, taxing schedule of 38 games. This season, Liverpool has won all nine of its home games in all competitions, scoring 27 goals, and Anfield appears to have recovered as a bastion that can support a title campaign. But Klopp’s team has only won twice in their six away league games so far, and they now have the biggest test coming up at the Etihad. Since December of last year, City has won 23 games in a row at home across all categories.