Key events
45 mins: Two minutes added on.
44 mins: City are trying to slow things down going into the break and it is infuriating the home fans.
Haaland pickpockets Van Dijk and lays the ball off to Alvarez but his shot from 18 yards is in no way accurate.
42 mins: Stones gives the ball away on the halfway line and Szoboszlai breaks forward finding Diaz on the edge of the box. The Colombian cuts inside and takes aim but his shot flies wide.
40 mins: Nunez and Szoboszlai do well before the latter finds Elliott in the box. He takes a touch and shoots but finds Ake’s midriff. City clear the ball and Haaland ends up one-v-one with Van Dijk, who does well to push the striker wider than he would like and his shot is straight at Kelleher.
38 mins: Alvarez has been very good for City, justifying Guardiola’s decision to bring him back into the side. He has looked dangerous on the left and made some clever runs to create space for his teammates.
36 mins: Haaland gets a sniff of a chance but he is held up by Quansah and Van Dijk comes back to turn the ball behind for a corner. Foden swings it in and Quansah flicks away.
De Bruyne drives towards the box and lets fly from 20 yards but his shot is deflected wide.
34 mins: Alvarez is either stupid or naive, trying to pass the ball out when three Liverpool players descend on the edge of the box. Bradley ends up with the ball and shoots but it is blocked and Ederson comes to claim.
“There always seems a bit of Filippo Inzaghi about Nunez with his constant surprise being found five yards offside,” says Dechlan Brennan.
32 mins: It’s an energy sapping encounter whether you are playing or watching. Elliott chips the ball into the box and finds Szoboszlai unmarked but the Hungarian gets too much on his effort and it loops over.
“Didn’t you do Arsenal Brentford yesterday?” asks Eagle Brosi. “Are you in a sort of funk where you’re covering these games and not really able to watch them and the teams you want to win lose?
“It’s in my head that the MBM creators are cursed, if they’re lifelong Spurs fan they have to comment on Arsenal winning 6-0. If they’re Man U fans they have to watch Liverpool win. If they’re City fans they have to watch Rodri already on a yellow put hands on the referee and scream in their face because they gave the other team a throw in (replays show Rodri clearly kicked it out) and somehow underplay it.
“Good luck. I hope your team doesn’t lose… Again.”
If only you knew who I support …
30 mins: The City fans a pretty vocal too. They know this is a pivotal game in their season.
28 mins: The Anfield roar is back because they know their team need them. Diaz looks to get beyond Walker down the left but the wily defender knows what he is doing and the Colombian cross is a poor one in the end.
26 mins: Nunez gets beyond the City defence and passes the ball out to Diaz who tries to find the Uruguayan in the box, causing a bit of chaos with his cross, but the flag goes up.
24 mins: Justin Kavanagh says: “What a brilliant, intriguing contest this is. The fearless v the peerless.”
23 mins: Silva is having a fine game, drifting into dangerous areas. The latest run sees him reach the byline from where he dinks a cross to Haaland waiting at the back post but Van Dijk heads behind. City have worked on this one, with De Bruyne flashes the cross to the front post where Stones runs into space thanks to Ake blocking off Mac Allister. It is a fine set-piece.
GOAL! Liverpool 0-1 Manchester City (Stones 23)
Stones steers in a corner at the near post. Genius stuff from De Bruyne.
22 mins: Liverpool’s energy levels are up and they are making life very difficult for City but the visitors have the quality to turn this match in an instance. They’ve offered plenty of promise going forward but fallen at the final hurdle on a couple of occasions.
Rodri plays a couple of passes out to Foden on the right but Gomez does well to win the ball back.
20 mins: City are making a few mistakes at the back and looking a little rattled inside the Anfield cauldron. Makes a for a fun match.
19 mins: DISALLOWED GOAL! A lovely pass from Mac Allister finds Nunez but he is a yard offside. The Uruguayan takes the ball into the box and finds Diaz in space to tap home but the flag is up before the celebrations can begin.
18 mins: Now Liverpool look to be causing all the problems. What an ebb and flow this match has.
Walker cleans out Szoboszlai to stop an attack on the halfway line. It could be a yellow card but Michael Oliver decides against it. That is Walker’s second foul of the match, one more and he will be in the book.
16 mins: Nunez tries to find Szoboszlai in space on the edge of the box but the Hungarian can not take control of the ball. Liverpool are getting into this match after weathering a bit of a storm.
Diaz does well on the left and earns himself some space; he manages to lift a cross to Nunez in space but the Uruguayan is just ahead of the ball and can only steer his header wide.
14 mins: Bradley takes the ball out of the sky on the right and darts into the box, tricking his way past Ake before pinging a low cross but it is ahead of everyone, including Nunez who pings into the post. That must hurt.
It is a sign that City’s defence can be got it, that’s for sure.
12 mins: All the play is in Liverpool’s half. City’s midfield players are roaming and find space in dangerous areas.
De Bruyne tries to dissect the Liverpool defence but Quansah reads it. Not that it matters because Haaland is a few yards offside.
10 mins: Foden shows Gomez some quick feet and gets beyond the full-back before slinging in a cross but Haaland is not in the box. City get a corner, however, after Bradley turns behind. Alvarez swings it in and there is a little bit of panic in the box but Liverpool manage to clear.
8 mins: Another break from City leads to Alvarez slipping a pass to De Bruyne on the overlap but the Belgian’s dink over Kelleher goes out for a goal kick rather than finding the onrushing Foden to nod in.
De Bruyne has another chance seconds later, rifling a powerful drive that Kelleher sees fit to just palm away. City are looking dangerous …
6 mins: Ederson pings a pass out to Foden on the right but he is dispossessed by Van Dijk to end a promising attack. City are looking the sharper in the opening stages.
4 mins: City are looking pretty slick in the opening stages. Silva drives forward and plays the ball outside to Alvarez on the left. The Argentinian cuts inside and takes aim but Kelleher is equal to it.
De Bruyne gets to the byline and lifts a cross alongside the six-yard line but it goes over everyone. Liverpool have received a few early warnings.
2 mins: City make Liverpool swap ends as part of the psychological battle.
There is a cracking atmosphere inside Anfield.
De Bruyne slips a passing to Foden inside the box but his first touch is, uncharacteristically, poor and Liverpool win it back.
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
Jones Manoah emails: “As a neutral Gooner, with absolutely no stake in this game, watching from Nairobi. Is it too much to ask the footballing gods for a highly entertaining draw with maybe a red for Rodri as the icing on the cake?”
Yes.
Seamus Enright says: “Continuing with the Hollywood Theme, from a Liverpool perspective, Szoboszlai is the handsome leading man, Bradley is the young ingénue and Nunez is the rebel who plays by his own rules.
“Who is the evil villain from a Liverpool perspective? A lot of Scousers dislike Bernardo Silva but I’m more tempted to say Haaland will be the horned viking attacking the peaceful monastery that is the Liverpool penalty area.”
The players are in the tunnel …
Anfield sounds quite lively today. Will it help Liverpool and hinder City? It will certainly be noisy from start to finish.
Jurgen Klopp: “It is fantastic. A sold out Anfield and we face the best team in the world, so I am really excited.”
On final Premier League game v Guardiola: “To me I hope people don’t see it like that, it is not about it. There was a Liverpool before and there will be a Liverpool after me.”
Advice to players: “Fight with all you have and play with all you have.
Pep Guardiola: “A big day, an important game.
“For Jurgen I understand [the emotions] but we focus on what we have to do.
“Perform well, against top sides you have to perform well.”
There have been issues in the past with City’s team bus on its approach to Anfield but it sounds like they snuck in around the back today without the home fans noticing.
Peadar de Burca emails: “From a paranoid Liverpool supporter’s point of view, this has the makings of a 0-5 thrashing as a result of the Reds going a goal down and throwing caution to the wind by sending big Caoimhin up for corners. Please God, don’t let that happen as it is a grey day here in south-west Poland and I don’t want the Poles to see me cry.”
Will City do their talking on the pitch?
Seamus Enright says: “Re: Sky Oscars comparison, I’m hoping a Corkman will come out on top in both.”
Sky are very keen to compare Liverpool v City to the Oscars and it is quite annoying.
“Any idea why Robby isn’t starting?” asks Gordon Brown.
Deemed not fit enough to start.
Big calls from the stats men.
Some additional Salah news.
Jim Morrish emails: “In the spirit of sporting corinthianism for which I’m renowned I have to say that once it’s a great and fair game I really don’t care who wins today as long as LFC end the proceedings with all three points.”
May the best team win.
Jurgen Klopp: “We never thought about starting Salah today. We can bring him on, which is pretty cool.”
Thankfully, for society, I have written about Kelleher.
It is a big afternoon for the Liverpool back five. Kelleher, Bradley and Quansah are still relatively inexperienced at this level and Gomez is playing out of position at left-back. Only Manchester City to stop …
There is no shortage of pre-match reading.
Starting lineups
Liverpool (4-3-3): Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk, Gomez; Endo, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Diaz, Nunez, Elliott.
Substitutes: Adrian, Robertson, Tsimikas, Salah, Gakpo, McConnell, Clark, Nallo, Koumas.
Manchester City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Silva; Foden, Haaland, Alvarez
Subs: Ortega, Dias, Kovacic, Doku, Gomez, Gvardiol, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis.
Preamble
Does it get any bigger than this in mid-March? Not really. For many this could be a title decider but there is still a way to go in the season – the most important thing is that there is real competition to be Premier League champions. Both teams are in great form and will be eager to further prove their credentials with victory at Anfield today, especially after Arsenal defeated Brentford yesterday.
Liverpool have a few injury problems and Mohamed Salah only returned for 15 minutes against Sparta Prague on Thursday night after a month out. They have looked fearless in recent months, so will not be worried about Pep Guardiola et al pitching up on Merseyside. Liverpool had to travel to Prague in midweek which cannot have helped but they will be fit and firing come kick-off.
City have enjoyed an extra day of rest and did not need to travel, instead waltzing to a home victory over Copenhagen in the Champions League, resting a few big hitters in the process.
We should be in for a tense but an enjoyable afternoon.
Kick-off: 3.45pm GMT.