Preview: Liverpool vs Manchester City - prediction, team news, lineups

Supported by the red half of Merseyside and the red half of North London, Liverpool welcome fellow Premier League powerhouses Manchester City to Anfield for Sunday's main event.

The hosts enter gameweek 25 four places and eight points worse off than Pep Guardiola's men in the Premier League table, but with an identical record from their last six top-flight games - one defeat, four draws and a measly one win.

Match preview

The sixth time was the charm for Liverpool as far as Premier League fixtures in 2026 are concerned, as following four straight stalemates and a devastating Bournemouth defeat to begin the New Year, Arne Slot's men slaughtered Newcastle United.

The Magpies travelled to Merseyside after holding Champions League champions Paris Saint-Germain to a 1-1 draw, but they left their defensive resilience in the French capital, as a Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz-inspired Reds stormed to a 4-1 victory after initially falling behind to an Anthony Gordon strike.

Memorably producing comeback after comeback during Jurgen Klopp's final season, Liverpool continue to harness their turnaround powers under Arne Slot; since the start of the 2024-25 season, they have claimed 28 Premier League points when conceding the first goal, the fourth-most in the league.

Liverpool's kit men have evidently been dusting off the players' best shooting boots too, as the hosts have now racked up 15 goals in their last four games after putting six past Qarabag and three past Marseille in the UCL, as well as two beyond Bournemouth.

A coveted top-five spot is still out of the Reds' hands, though - they begin the gameweek two points below Manchester United and one adrift of Chelsea - while Brentford and Sunderland could still catch them with one dissatisfactory result.

For the second week running, Arsenal supporters will switch top-six allegiances for their latest Man City hate watch, after a regressing Tottenham Hotspur put an unexpected dent in the Sky Blues' title aspirations in an engrossing 2-2 draw.

Seemingly cruising to victory after Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo's strikes, Guardiola's men perhaps allowed complacency to creep in during the second half, when former Liverpool striker Dominic Solanke stunned the visitors with a game-levelling brace.

Now dropping points in five of their last six Premier League encounters, Man City have fallen six points behind Arsenal, who have been far from flawless in 2026 but returned to their ruthless ways by putting four past Leeds United last weekend.

A Gunners win over Sunderland would temporarily increase their cushion to nine points, and road trips have not been kind to Guardiola's troops of late, as the visitors are winless in each of their last three away from home and have conceded at least two goals on each occasion.

However, City followed Liverpool's lead by taking down Newcastle 3-1 in Wednesday's EFL Cup semi-final second leg - setting up a Wembley date with Arsenal in the process - and their 3-0 win over Liverpool in November means that they are just 90 minutes away from a first-ever Premier League double over the Reds.

Liverpool Premier League form:

Liverpool form (all competitions):

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Team News

Slot delivered good news and bad news on the fitness front during his pre-game press conference; Joe Gomez has a slight chance of recovering from his hip injury in time for the weekend, but Jeremie Frimpong (thigh) is not yet ready to return.

Conor Bradley (knee), Alexander Isak (leg) and Giovanni Leoni (knee) complete the absentee list for the reigning champions, who have no reason to deviate from the successful formula from their Newcastle mauling.

Provider of a goal and an assist in that five-goal thriller, Wirtz now boasts nine direct involvements in his last 11 matches for Liverpool - more than any other Premier League player in that time - after registering just three in his first 21.

On the Man City front, Guardiola is still in the dark about Bernardo Silva's availability for the trip to Anfield, as the Portuguese picked up a knock in the Spurs draw and was subsequently unavailable for the Newcastle victory.

Rayan Cherki was at least fit enough to come off the bench in the cup after suffering a blow of his own last weekend, while Ruben Dias was also among the substitutes in midweek after spending a month out with a hamstring issue.

John Stones (thigh) is back in first-team training too, but a return to competitive action is not yet possible for the Englishman, and the same goes for Josko Gvardiol (calf), Mateo Kovacic (ankle), Jeremy Doku (calf) and Savinho (thigh).

Marc Guehi returns from his EFL Cup ineligibility, but Guardiola refused to say whether Erling Haaland would return to the first XI here - simply labelling the Norwegian the "best striker in the world" in front of the media.

Liverpool possible starting lineup:

Alisson; Szoboszlai, Konate, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo; Ekitike

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Guehi, Ake, Ait-Nouri; Rodri, O'Reilly; Cherki, Reijnders, Semenyo; Haaland

We say: Liverpool 3-2 Manchester City

A different if yet inconsistent beast to the team that were swept aside at the Etihad, Liverpool can take advantage of Man City's recent road failures, midweek fatigue and defensive absentees to put another dent in Guardiola's title coffin.

Salah is back with a bang, Wirtz is operating at the peak of his powers and Ekitike is excelling in tandem with the German, so Slot's side can successfully fight fire with fire in what ought to be an enthralling extravaganza.

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