We run the rule over the last-eight matches, including the all-Premier League duel between Liverpool and Manchester City, and predict who will triumph
Liverpool are the only side to beat City in the league this season and stand alongside Wigan as one of only two teams to have defeated City in games that had something riding on them. That match at Anfield in January highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the two sides. At the time it was a game between the team with the best home defensive record in the league and the side with the best away defensive record, and yet nobody was surprised when it finished 4-3. Liverpool, although they eventually lost 5-0, had also troubled City at the Etihad earlier in the season when Sadio Mané was sent off for a high foot on Ederson with the score at 1-0. Both teams press high up the pitch, are heavily focused on attack and, while they can overwhelm sides, the sense is that if you can get beyond the press to attack them they can be vulnerable. Jürgen Klopp has said that to sit deep against a team such as City is to hope to win the lottery, and the effectiveness of his proactive approach is perhaps seen in the fact that no manager has a better record against Pep Guardiola than him: 12 previous meetings have brought him six wins and a draw.
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Source: gad