Liverpool vs Man City preview, H2H, team news, line-ups and prediction

Liverpool and Manchester City will square off at Anfield on Premier League matchweek 12 in what promises to be a thrilling, table-deciding clash on 1 December. 

Liverpool’s resurgence under Arne Slot has been remarkable—suffering just one defeat across all competitions while recording 14 wins and a draw.

Since their 2-2 draw with Arsenal last month, the Reds have recorded four straight victories. This marks Liverpool’s second-strongest start to a Premier League campaign, with 31 points, trailing only their title-winning 2019-20 season.

Even against challenging Premier League sides, Liverpool earned ten points from clashes with Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton, and Aston Villa.

Brighton fell to Liverpool in both the EFL Cup and Premier League, before the Reds secured a dominant 4-0 Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen.

In their 2-0 Premier League win against Aston Villa, Darwin Núñez opened the scoring with a composed first-half finish, while Mohamed Salah sealed the result late on. This triumph saw Slot become just the fifth manager to record eight wins in his first ten Premier League matches.

The victory over Villa also marked the Dutch manager’s 28th point in charge of Liverpool, equalling Guus Hiddink’s record for the most points earned by a manager after 11 Premier League matches.

Slot’s remarkable start to life in English football now includes 14 wins from his first 16 matches, setting a new record for a debut-season Premier League manager across all competitions. This surpasses the 13-win tallies achieved by José Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti in the same span.

Liverpool’s 28-point haul from their opening 11 Premier League games this season is a feat only bettered once in their history—during the 2019-20 campaign (31 points, W10 D1).

The Reds have also become the 12th team to secure at least 28 points after 11 Premier League matches, a mark last reached by Arsenal in 2022-23 where the Gunners led City by two points at the same stage but ultimately fell short of the title by five points.

With a clash against Southampton and a tough Champions League game against Madrid, Slot will hope his side does not drop momentum when they meet City next month.

Pep Guardiola suffered his first-ever streak of four consecutive defeats in his managerial career, with City suffering a 2-1 loss to Brighton in their final match before the international break.

City currently sit on 23 points after 11 games, matching their tally from the same stage of the 2021-22 season, which ended with them crowned champions. This total is also four points higher than their tally of 19 points in 2020-21, another title-winning campaign.

However, City bounced back impressively, embarking on a 23-match unbeaten run to secure their fourth Premier League title in a row, as Arsenal and Liverpool failed to maintain their momentum.

This time, the scenario is markedly different. City’s slump, combined with Liverpool’s remarkable start to the season has led to the Reds overtaking Guardiola’s side as the current favourites for the Premier League title.

Considering that all four consecutive defeats have come away from home, there’s growing optimism about a turn of fortunes when they return to the Etihad for the first time since beating Southampton on October 26.

With home clashes against Tottenham and Feyenoord coming up, the Cityzens will hope to regain their form ahead of a tough trip to the hostile territory at Anfield to face Liverpool.

Tough clashes against Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and domestic rivals, Manchester United will come next and Guardiola will hope the injury crisis to his side will be subsided as he hopes to positively navigate through a tough festive run of fixtures.

Liverpool Vs Man City match details 

• Date: Sunday 1 December, 2024
• Location: Liverpool, England
• Venue: Anfield Stadium
• Kick-off time: 4:00pm BST
• Tickets: Fans can buy Liverpool vs Manchester City tickets through the club websites but they are likely to be sold out, so you can use trusted reseller Seatsnet.com.

Match stats and head-to-head 

• Both Liverpool and City have found the back of the net in seven of their last eight matches, the most in any Premier League clash since the start of the 2020-21 season.

• Liverpool have lost just one of their last 21 matches against City at Anfield, winning 13 and recording six draws. The last defeat in 21 games at Merseyside came in 2021 where they lost 4-1.

• With seven assists against Liverpool, Kevin De Bruyne has assisted more goals against the Reds in the Premier League, with only Ryan Giggs (8) assisting more against Liverpool than the Belgian midfielder.

• De Bruyne has the most goal contributions against Liverpool with 11, only Ryan Giggs(12), and Andrew Cole(14) have contributed more in this fixture.

• The last eight Premier League meetings between these sides have seen the team scoring first go on to win just twice, with five matches ending in draws.

• City lost back-to-back games for the first time since doing so against Leicester City and Chelsea in December 2016, Crystal Palace and Leicester in December 2018 and Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal in September 2023.

• Erling Haaland experienced his first Premier League defeat in a game where he found the net, ending a remarkable run of 46 matches in which he had scored, winning 40 and drawing six. This streak was the fourth longest of such a run, trailing only Diogo Jota (48), James Milner (54), and Gabriel Jesus (60).

• Following his 23rd-minute opener against Brighton, Haaland has now netted 75 Premier League goals in a record 77 appearances.

• Since the beginning of 2022-23, only Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne (15) have combined for more Premier League goals than Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah (12) for Liverpool, with Salah providing just his third assist in these combinations.

• Liverpool have scored five goals from fast breaks in the Premier League this season, trailing only Tottenham Hotspur (7), with two of those goals coming against Aston Villa.

• Mohamed Salah has scored 10 goals and provided 10 assists in 17 games for Liverpool this season, the fastest by any Liverpool player in the last 40 seasons.

Team news 

Arne Slot will be beaming in happiness that Curtis Jones returned from the international break unscathed. The 23-year-old has been one of Liverpool’s standout players this season and also featured in England’s two games in the international break where he netted on his debut against Greece.

Goalkeeper, Caoimhin Kelleher, who impressed in goal for Republic of Ireland during the international break, could potentially start in goal in Liverpool’s game against Southampton.

However, first-choice goalkeeper, Alisson Becker is nearing a return from injury and is tipped to make a full return before the game against City next month.

The likes of Harvey Elliot, Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota were tipped for a return after the international break, but at the time of writing, the trio have not been declared fit and their availability for the match against City hinges on a fitness test.

Liverpool’s major doubt for this clash is Trent Alexander-Arnold, who suffered a hamstring injury in the win against Villa before the international break. Conor Bradley is in a position to replace the vice-captain if he does not recover in time for the clash against City.

In the most positive news for the club, head coach Pep Guardiola has agreed to a one-year contract extension with an option of another year that could see him remain at the Etihad until 2027, according to reports from Sky Sports.

Amidst the positive news, City remain plagued by an injury crisis—Phil Foden and Jack Grealish being the latest additions after withdrawing from international duties.

Ruben Dias and John Stones’ availability for the clash against Liverpool hinges on a fitness test and Guardiola will hope he doesn’t lose any more of his key players to injury.

Jeremy Doku, Matheus Nunes and Manuel Akanji also withdrew from international assignments and at the time of writing, there’s no confirmation of their recovery ahead of the clash against Liverpool in December.

Oscar Bobb and Rodri remain the club’s longest absentees and while the latter is ruled out of the season, the former is expected to return before the end of the year.

Predicted starting lineup 

Liverpool predicted starting lineup 

Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Jones; Salah, Nunez, Diaz.

Man City predicted starting lineup 

Ederson; Walker, Gvardiol, Ake, Simpson-Pusey; Gundogan, Kovacic, Silva; Foden, Haaland, Savinho.

Prediction

It’s still too early to write of City’s title chances especially when they were in a similar position last season.

The difference with this season is the injury to most of their key players leaving Guardiola short of options.

Liverpool on the other hand are riding in a supersonic wave and have completely blown teams apart in all competitions this season, losing only once.

It’ll be a tough clash and playing in front of the ever vibrant Anfield crowd will give the team the much-needed motivation to extend their stay at the top of the Premier League table.

We’re predicting a 2-1 win for Liverpool.