Manchester City could take a giant stride towards regaining the Premier League title when they travel to face out-of-form champions Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola's side have soared to the top of the table courtesy of a relentless nine-match winning streak, which stretches to 13 across all competitions.
Only two teams in the history of English top-flight football have won 14 successive matches in all competitions and so Man City are on the verge of something special, but first they must overcome a Liverpool side in poor form, but with a good record in this fixture.
Here, Sports Mole looks at how the visitors could line up on Merseyside.
Out: Sergio Aguero (fitness), Kevin De Bruyne (hamstring), Nathan Ake (muscle)
Doubtful: None
> Click here for Man City's latest injury and suspension news ahead of this match
There are many impressive elements to Man City's record-breaking form, not least their defensive stats, but towards the top of that list is the fact that they have been able to maintain it without two of their main men.
Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne are both currently sidelined and will again be absent for this trip to Anfield, while Nathan Ake is also unavailable due to injury.
Ake may struggle to get a look-in when he does return, though, with Man City having kept more clean sheets than they have conceded goals in the Premier League this season, including six in a row heading into this match.
Guardiola may consider playing three at the back in this weekend's game, with Aymeric Laporte alongside Ruben Dias and John Stones, but if he decides to stick with a defensive quartet then Laporte is the most likely to drop out, while Kyle Walker should come in at right-back.
At the other end of the pitch, Guardiola must decide whether to reward Gabriel Jesus for his recent form, which has seen him open the scoring early in Man City's last two games.
There is no shortage of in-form options for the Man City boss to choose from, though, with a host of attackers including Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Ferran Torres, Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling all pushing for starts.
Sterling is one goal short of a century under Guardiola's tutelage, and should he get that against his former club then he would join an exclusive club of Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero to have netted 100 times with the Spaniard as their manager.
Ilkay Gundogan has been one of the go-to men for goals recently, though, directly contributing to as many goals (eight) in his last 10 Premier League outings as he had in his previous 61.
> Click here to see how Liverpool could line up for this contest
Video prediction
Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:
Barney Corkhill
