Anfield, Saturday 1245 GMTLIVERPOOL:
With just one win in their previous nine encounters in all competitions, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez knows a victory here is simply vital.
He has been buoyed by the return of captain Steven Gerrard, who has played just 70 minutes since injuring himself on international duty last month, but even his return does not lift all off the gloom on the red half of Merseyside.
A win against Mark Hughes's men would not only re-establish Liverpool's top-four credentials but it would simultaneously hamper City's own ambitions off breaking into the top four, so this match is a "six-pointer" in every sense of the word.
However, in his usual manner, Benitez tried to play down the significance of the match, even though he knows only too well that three points could transform Liverpool's season.
"It is important but at our club every week can be important so hopefully you can ask me the same thing in April," he said. "Every week we want to be playing for something. City are a big rival, they have a good team and some money and a good manager so it will be tough.
"It is important for us and we know that every game is very important because we want to win, progress and get higher in the table. We are really pleased to be in this position because you always want to be playing for something."
Although Benitez admits he would love to come out on top on Saturday, he does not feel the result will have a reflection on both sides' finishing position.
"It is too early," he added. "We are confident that we can win but we cannot be thinking it is more important than any more."
Strategy: Spread the scoring around. An absent Fernando Torres leads Liverpool's scoring charts with 10 strikes this term, followed by Yossi Benayoun, who is struggling to be fit and then Gerrard who is also just returning. It is crystal clear then that the rest of Benitez's squad have chip in with goals.
David Ngog, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel all need to shoulder more of the goalscoring burden if Liverpool are to ever reignite this season. A clean sheet would be ideal as well. Liverpool have not kept one since beating Manchester United 2-0 on October 25 and before that you have to go back to early September for their last Premier League shut out against Burnley. So plenty to think about then at both ends of the pitch.
Injury Update: Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio and Glen Johnson are back in Benitez's thoughts after overcoming various ailments as are Martin Kelly and Benayoun although Torres is still not fit as he struggles with a hernia problem.
MANCHESTER CITY:
Five successive draws and eight points out of the last available 21 is presumably NOT what the billionaire City owners signed up for when they pumped nearly quarter of a billion pounds into signing new players in the summer. Indeed three of City's five wins have come against the bottom three, and a fourth against Blackburn, so this is hardly the bright new dawn that the brochure promised.
Yet, in this increasingly schizophrenic Premier League season, City are just two points off the top four and have a game in hand on nearly all the teams above them. Little wonder the international break trip to Abu Dhabi appeared to be such a love-in between ownership and management.
Victory at Anfield will certainly cement that apparently strong relationship further and tempt Sheikh Mansour into funding a January transfer binge which may, if rumours are to be believed, possibly feature Torres.
In the meantime, manager Hughes can only be grateful that Torres has not recovered from his injury in time to take his place at Anfield because, on recent evidence, he would simply destroy a defence that gifted Burnley three risible goals on their last outing and was widely held up to ridicule by TV pundit Alan Hansen.
"The significance of this is we are playing a team around where we are at the moment," said Hughes. "Historically, they have been in the top four for many, many seasons now and we are trying to get in there ourselves at some point in the future.
"Liverpool have the confidence of knowing they have the knowledge and understanding of what it takes to finish in the top four so I'm not sure they are the most likely to drop out. A few weeks ago, everybody was saying Arsenal were the most at risk and vulnerable and that soon changed."
City still have a great chance of achieving that target as early as this season, if some of the fundamental and fairly basic, defensive flaws can be eradicated.
This game, meanwhile, will give Liverpool fans the chance to glimpse what-might-have-beens as their club's former transfer target Gareth Barry comes to Anfield in City colours.
"We're delighted with what Gareth has produced so far," said Hughes. "What we have to guard against is the fact he's playing a hell of a lot of games at club and international level and we must be mindful of that. We don't want him compromised by niggles and injuries."
Strategy: An interesting one. Does Hughes stick with a 4-4-2 formation with Emmanuel Adebayor and Carlos Tevez up front, in which case he must decide whether to partner Stephen Ireland or the more defensive Nigel de Jong alongside Barry in the middle? Or will the City manager opt for Adebayor as a lone striker with three midfielders behind him in a 4-2-3-1 set-up?
Much may depend on the fitness of Craig Bellamy and Tevez who have been hampered by minor niggles. Sadly for City, the one area where he does not have options is the back four where a combination of Pablo Zabaleta, Kolo Toure, Joleon Lescott and Wayne Bridge has looked increasingly inept and disorganised. A clean sheet has to be the first order of the day for City at Anfield.
Injury Update: Martin Petrov and Sylvinho are the only definite absentees, leaving Hughes with practically his entire first team squad from which to select. That gives the manager options of setting up for a specific game plan and, as outlined above, the niggles that have bothered Tevez and Bellamy in recent weeks may have a large bearing on that. Robinho is finally fit and almost certainly on the bench.
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Comments (Page 1 of 1)
steven gerrard will take in a good part when we play man city