Premier League leaders Liverpool host second-place Manchester City on Sunday at Anfield in a massive fixture. The Reds could extend their lead over Manchester City to nine points in the Premier League table with a victory. A Manchester City win would see them reel in Liverpool and sit just three points back of first place.
Manchester City head into the fixture following a 1-1 draw with Atalanta in the Champions League. The fixture saw an injury to Manchester City starting goalkeeper Ederson. Back-up Claudio Bravo took over in the second half for Ederson before being sent off. Right-back Kyle Walker ended the match in goal making more saves (one) than the Cityzens’ two other goalkeepers combined.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has not beaten Liverpool at Anfield. In fact, Manchester City haven’t won at Anfield since 2003.
With the top of table clash less than 48 hours away, the latest team news doesn’t look good for Manchester City. However, Guardiola has shown his team can win without their top stars.
Will Ederson play on Sunday?
On Friday, Guardiola confirmed that Ederson will not play on Sunday against Liverpool The manager went on to say the extent of Ederson’s absence is currently unknown.
Ederson is suffering from a muscular problem which he suffered in the first half against Atalanta. It was hoped by Guardiola that the issue was small and would be easy to overcome by taking Ederson off at halftime.
The goalkeeper joins a list of Manchester City players unable to appear including Aymeric Laporte and Rodri. Guardiola’s defence has been hit hard without the centre-back and defensive midfielder, although recent clean sheet results have still been positive against Aston Villa, Southampton, and Crystal Palace.
David Silva did not appear in midweek due to an injury but could make the bench. Aleks Zinchenko is also out of action due to an injury to his knee. Zinchenko won’t return until the end of November at the earliest.
What are Liverpool’s fitness issues?
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has his own fitness issues heading into Sunday. Liverpool defeated Genk 2-1 in the Champions League in midweek continuing a great run of form that has seen a mere one loss this term. That loss came in the Champions League against Napoli in Naples.
Captain Jordan Henderson missed out in midweek due to an illness but Klopp has confirmed the midfielder is fit to play. The manager has a big decision on his hands with the fine form of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. It is likely that for such a big match that Klopp will pick his tried and true midfield of Henderson, Fabinho, and Georginio Wijnaldum.
There were questions around Virgil van Dijk’s fitness after he missed training on Thursday. The centre-back is fine and was away for other reasons, according to Klopp. Centre-back partner Joel Matip is out with a knee injury still and will not play. Dejan Lovren has filled in well for the first-choice stopper and is likely to be paired with Van Dijk.
Meanwhile, Xherdan Shaqiri and Nathaniel Clyne are both long-term injuries.
