Wednesday 2nd March 2016 Kickoff: 2000hrs Liverpool v Manchester City Football – England – Premier League
Just four days after Liverpool and Manchester City played out a pulsating League Cup final at Wembley, the two clubs face each other again – this time for three Premier League points. It’s never easy playing the same opponent so close together for numerous reasons, but following such a physically and mentally draining encounter, it is difficult to assess how both teams will react at Anfield.
There’s no doubt that Jurgen Klopp will have a job on his hands to try and energise and motivate his team following the heartache Liverpool suffered on Sunday. They may well have rode their luck at times and relied on some terrible finishing from City, but Klopp’s men showed great character to score the equaliser with less than 10 minutes to go in normal time and could well have won it in regulation, and extra-time. It was not quite their last chance of a trophy this season as they remain in the Europa League – with a last-16 tie against Manchester United to look forward to – but it was certainly their best chance of winning silverware. It’s gone now, though, and immediate attention now switches to the league and trying to finish as high as possible. Currently in ninth, the Reds are nine points outside of the Champions League positions, a gap that their inconsistent form is unlikely to be able to bridge that sufficiently with the games that remain.
It may not have been a vintage Manchester City performance but it does not matter how you win cup finals, it’s all about walking away with the trophy and that’s exactly what Manuel Pellegrini managed to achieve. As alluded to above, City could have made things much easier for themselves if Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling has taken any one of a number of chances. What Pellegrini will have been delighted about, however, is the desire that his team displayed. That’s not always been the case in recent seasons and heads could easily have dropped when conceding the equaliser. The challenge now for City is to show that same desire in their remaining league games. Motivation should not be an issue for the Champions League – as their performance against Dynamo Kiev illustrated last week – but with a gap of 10 points to make up with leaders Leicester, it’s important that City treat every game as though it’s as critical as the game was on Sunday. With the Foxes having dropped points at home to West Brom on Tuesday, there should be plenty of motivation for them at Anfield to begin narrowing the gap.
With less than three months to go between now and the end of the current campaign, Klopp will look to begin shaping his squad for the new season, in what will be his first full season in charge at Anfield. He’s currently making do with what he has but it would be extremely surprising if the current team is the one that takes to the field in August. Sunday’s performance once again highlighted that there needs to be serious investment in the defence, goalkeeper included, whilst the options in midfield are all a bit one dimensional and lacking any real flair or goal threat. Klopp will be pleased that their recent league form has improved somewhat in terms of goals scored, but there it is a bit like feast or famine. Despite scoring 16 goals in their last seven league games, they’ve also drawn a blank in three of those matches. Finding that consistency will be all-important for the manager and that will be a challenge he sets his team between now and their final match.
The 3-1 win over Dynamo Kiev was the type of performance that we have become accustomed to from City under Pellegrini – at least up until this season. It was full of pace, creativity and goal threats from all over the park. It would also be a performance that would leave the club’s supporters scratching their heads due to how little of that form they have shown since August. It would have been especially frustrating considering they were coming into that game off the back of three straight defeats, where they had conceded 10 goals. Following that win and the triumph in the cup final there should be no lack of confidence coming into this game and it could well be a fantastic week if City leave Merseyside with all three points.
Liverpool v Manchester City Betting Tips
There will be no lack of competitive edge to this one following the close proximity to the last game, but it should be a little less tense, especially in the opening stages. Although the League Cup final ended up being very entertaining and end-to-end, the first half was pretty forgettable. Liverpool can play with a sense of freedom in the league now with little to play for other than pride, whilst City simply have to put a winning run together if they are to challenge for the league title.
Since the turn of the year Liverpool have already faced Arsenal and Manchester United at home in the league and managed to take only one point. The two games were polar opposites of each other as well so we can only hope the game against City is more akin to the 3-3 draw they played out with the Gunners as opposed to the dour 1-0 defeat against the other Manchester club. City, themselves, have drawn two and won two of their last four away league games but they have not been convincing whatsoever.
There are usually goals when these two meet and everything is set-up for that recent trend to continue on Wednesday. The last 10 meetings have seen both teams scoring whilst nine of them have contained at least three goals. It is the latter of those bets that is the selection in this case as a draw is virtually no good to either team so bank on there being three or more goals scored again.
Over 2.5 goals 19/20 @ Betfair
