Man City Host Liverpool in Top-of-the-Table Clash

Manchester City will be looking to equal an all-time English top-flight winning record when they welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium for a top-of-the-table Premier League showdown today

The Citizens saw their five-match winning streak in all competitions come to an end two weeks ago when they played out an enthralling 4-4 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in their final game before the international break.

With all of Cole Palmer, Raheem Sterling and Mateo Kovacic reuniting with their old employers at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago – having each opted for a different shade of blue since the end of the 2021-22 season – scripts were already written for one member of the triumvirate to become the hero in West London.

While Sterling did haunt his old club with Chelsea’s second goal on the evening, it was Palmer who drove the dagger deeper into the hearts of the Citizens faithful, keeping his composure from the penalty spot in the fifth minute of second-half injury time to conclude an eight-goal extravaganza.

Despite netting four times through an Erling Haaland brace, Manuel Akanji header and deflected Rodri strike, Guardiola’s men lost their five-game victorious sequence in that mesmerising 4-4 stalemate, one which saw them enter the third hiatus of the season just one point clear at the summit.

Pep Guardiola’s men remain top of the Premier League table, though, one point clear of their next opponents Liverpool in second, and they will fancy their chances of success today considering their exceptional home form.

Since drawing 1-1 with Everton on New Year’s Eve of 2022, Man City have won each of their last 23 games at the Etihad Stadium across all competitions, winning 15 in the Premier League, five in the Champions League and three in the FA Cup.

This remarkable home run is the longest winning run by a Premier League team in history, surpassing the 20-game winning run set by rivals Manchester United back in 2011.

Guardiola’s side surpassed another Red Devils record when they beat Brighton & Hove Albion 2-1 in October, becoming the first-ever Premier League team to win each of their first 14 home matches in a calendar year; the Citizens have since extended this run to 15 games courtesy of a thumping 6-1 win over Bournemouth earlier this month.

Man City’s comfortable 3-0 home victory over Young Boys in the Champions League, their most recent match at the Etihad, extended their unbeaten run in Europe (both home and away) to 18 matches – a new record for English clubs.

The treble winners are now on the cusp of writing their names into the history books once again, as a victory over Liverpool today will see them equal the longest winning home run by an English top-division club.

The current record is held by Sunderland who put together an impressive 24-game winning streak on home soil between 1891 and 1892.

To Jurgen Klopp’s chagrin, Liverpool occupy a spot in today’s lunchtime Premier League kickoff following the international break, as the Reds take on Manchester City at the Etihad.

Guardiola’s treble winners are only one point clear of their Merseyside counterparts heading into the weekend’s headline fixture, although the hosts’ winning streak came to an end in phenomenal circumstances two weekends ago.

Both upcoming opponents Liverpool and Arsenal are on the coat-tails of the reigning champions, who could also be caught by Tottenham Hotspur or Aston Villa depending on the result of their intriguing battle tomorrow, but bagging a quartet of strikes at Stamford Bridge at least means that the Citizens have scored at least three times in each of their last five contests.

Furthermore, no English team to visit the Etihad in the Premier League this year has emerged with their pride intact, as since a 1-1 draw with Everton on New Year’s Eve 2022, Man City have posted a sensational 15 wins from 15 top-flight home matches in 2023, while their overall winning streak in front of the home crowd stands at 23 matches in all tournaments.

A piece of English football history is also on the line for Man City, who could equal Sunderland’s long-standing record of 24 successive home wins set between 1890 and 1892, which only serves as an added incentive for a revitalised Liverpool to right their recent wrongs in this fixture.

After ceding their best-of-the-rest label to Arsenal last year, Liverpool once again make the short trip to the Etihad as Man City’s closest challengers for glory, albeit by virtue of scoring just one more goal than the Gunners and they have Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota to thank for their current silver medal position.

It would not be a Liverpool home win without a couple of goalkeeping heroics from Alisson Becker, who would never have expected a quiet afternoon against Brentford, but the Reds’ defence stood tall and witnessed Salah bag a landmark brace before Jota’s sublime curler completed the job in front of the Kop.

Coming up with the required response to a disappointing draw with Luton Town and dampening defeat to Toulouse, the next priority on Klopp’s agenda is to improve a meagre record of just one win from five on the road for Liverpool, who have failed to prevail in any of their last three top-flight away contests and have not kept a Premier League clean sheet on their travels since May. Such defensive vulnerabilities have reared their ugly heads for Liverpool in their last two trips to the Etihad, where their EFL Cup crown was ripped from their grasp in a 3-2 defeat last December before a 4-1 pummelling in April, and not since November 2015 – in Klopp’s eighth game in charge – have the Reds left the Etihad with a Premier League win to shout about.