Man City VS Liverpool LIVE Reddit Score 10/04/2022
Manchester City and Liverpool are involved in one of the closest title races in recent history in the Premier League. The reigning champions are ahead at the moment, just by a solitary point, but face a rampant Reds outfit who have scythed down the gap between the two teams ruthlessly over the past three months to position themselves as a serious threat to the Cityzens. Manchester City are on an eight-game unbeaten run across all competitions. They come into this game on the back of a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, Liverpool have won each of their last five games in all competitions. They prepared for this blockbuster tie with a 3-1 victory over Benfica in Europe.
Manchester City and Liverpool played out a thrilling 2-2 draw earlier this season at Anfield. Both teams are in good form heading into Sunday’s mammoth clash and are very much aware that whoever wins here would have a major edge in the race for the Premier League crown. Ahead of this encounter of enormous proportions, The Hard Tackle takes a closer look at both sides.
Pep Guardiola will set his team up in his preferred 4-3-3 formation against Liverpool, with Ederson Moraes guarding the goal. With Dias unavailable, John Stones will partner Aymeric Laporte at the heart of the Manchester City backline while there is no looking past Walker and Joao Cancelo in the full-back slots. The latter will have an interesting battle against Mohamed Salah on Sunday.
Rodri will be the man tasked with sweeping up in the middle of the park and thwarting Liverpool when they push forward. Kevin De Bruyne will essay the role of the chief creator for the home team from midfield. The Reds will need to keep him quiet to stand a chance of winning. The industrious Bernardo Silva should edge Ilkay Gundogan out for the third slot in the centre of the pitch for the Cityzens.
The destiny of the Premier League trophy will not be decided this weekend, but Manchester City’s top-of-the-table showdown with Liverpool at the Etihad could give a very clear indication as to which side will propel themselves to the crown. The gap between the two sides at the top of the table now stands at just one point, with the reigning champions just about holding off the threat of the Reds for the time being.
Both sides head into the meeting off the back of Champions League quarter-final first-leg wins, with City getting the better of Atletico Madrid 1-0 while Liverpool ran out 3-1 winners over Benfica. It has only taken two draws and a loss for City to lose their grip on what seemed certain to be a sixth Premier League crown, as Liverpool continued to rampage forwards while Southampton, Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur dented Pep Guardiola’s dreams of back-to-back glory.
At one stage eight points clear at the top of the rankings having played the same amount of games as Liverpool – 14 at one point having played two games more – City are still fighting for success on three fronts this season after ceding their customary EFL Cup crown to the Reds. City’s title destiny is still in their own hands, though, and victory on their own turf would see them open up a potentially-unassailable four-point gap at the summit heading into the final seven games of the season, but a Champions League quarter-final second leg with Atletico and a reunion with Liverpool in the semi-finals of the FA Cup represents a gruelling Easter period for the Citizens.
Heading into Sunday’s game at the Etihad with the wind in their sails was therefore of paramount importance for Man City, who eased to a 2-0 win at Burnley through Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan’s efforts before eventually managing to find their way through the low block of Atletico.
With Diego Simeone’s side appearing to deploy a 5-5-0 formation in the hopes of keeping the scoreline respectable before welcoming City to the Wanda Metropolitano, the Citizens were incapable of finding their way through the packed backline – and even then they had to somehow beat the ever-reliable Jan Oblak.
However, the introduction of Phil Foden breathed new life into Man City, who will take a first-leg advantage to Madrid after De Bruyne’s 70th-minute strike from Foden’s assist, and the dream of a domestic and continental treble is still well and truly alive for the English champions.
City will take an eight-game unbeaten run in all competitions into Sunday’s top-of-the-table battle – winning six of them, including each of their last three – and they have conceded a mere two goals in that stretch; no mean feat with the effervescent Ruben Dias watching on from the treatment room.
Conceding just 18 goals in 30 Premier League games this season unsurprisingly gives City the label of the division’s best defensive side this term, while 40 goals on home soil is also the best of its kind – even if Liverpool have gleaned more points on familiar territory this season.
Not since October have City failed to find the back of the net in a Premier League game at the Etihad – winning eight of their last nine such matches alongside that shock defeat to Tottenham – but Liverpool have all the motivation that they need to consign City to a potentially fatal defeat.
Potentially getting some early mind games in by hailing his counterpart Guardiola as “the best coach in the world”, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has entered the month of April with the quadruple still a real possibility, although he is probably already sick of hearing the word.
Having already stolen Man City’s EFL Cup crown out of their grasp and within touching distance of doing the same to their coveted Premier League title, Liverpool – to put it simply – have been a winning machine since January, and they have not rested on their laurels since the international break.
Liverpool were not at their free-flowing best against Watford at Anfield last weekend but nevertheless got over the line comfortably thanks to Diogo Jota’s header and Fabinho’s exemplary penalty, with that result seeing them briefly rise to the summit before City restored order at Burnley.
Many of those keenly watching Tuesday’s Champions League battle at the Estadio da Luz would have had their eyes on Benfica’s Darwin Nunez – who did take advantage of a defensive lapse from Liverpool to strike for the Portuguese side – but Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz all ensured a healthy first-leg win for the Reds, with the latter certainly revelling in returning to rival Portuguese turf with a goal and assist.