Paul Erewuba with agency report
Liverpool will host Man City today in a decisive fixture atop of the Premier League table, where a win could take the Reds nine points clear at the summit.
Following a thrilling late win over Aston Villa last weekend, the Reds rolled into Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with Genk in high spirits and full of confidence.
But Jurgen Klopp‘s side were made to work for their third successive victory in Europe as a tempered performance allowed the Belgium outfit to gain a foothold in proceedings before Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain proved decisive once more with the winning strike after the interval.
The manner of the 2-1 victory, however, left the feeling that it was ultimately the calm before the storm as eyes started to linger on the next challenge on the horizon.
Guardiola’s side fell to a surprise defeat to Norwich early in the campaign before Wolves too snatched all three points, the latter of which City have bounced back from with three league wins on the bounce.
City stumbled in midweek, however, in an eventful 1-1 draw with Atalanta which saw Kyle Walker take his place in between the sticks after Ederson left the field with a suspected injury before Claudio Bravo then saw red.
Nodoubt, City have not been at the peak of their powers to date having exposed a number of vulnerabilities, which are in part due to a string of injuries to key players.
But they remain an undeniable threat with talent who can turn a game their way in an instant and the Reds will need to be up to the task for the full 90 minutes.
These are arguably the best teams iin EPL. Their renewed rivalry defined last season’s title race and may do so again providing Pep Guardiola’s injury-hit Manchester City keep up with Liverpool.
Another win for Jürgen Klopp, who has beaten a team led by Pep Guardiola more times than any other manager (eight wins out of 17 meetings), would represent a monumental step for Liverpool, although City ended their unbeaten start to last season. City have won once in their last 28 league visits to Anfield.