No hype necessary for Liverpool FC at Manchester City, a match-up of the two sides that gave us the greatest title chase the Premier League has even seen last season. And the mind games for this one started very early. Man City boss Pep Guardiola called Liverpool winger Sadio Mane a diver last weekend.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp responded by pointing out City’s recent history of getting away with minor fouls. Mane responded to Guardiola’s comments by saying, albeit in a bizarre way that we won’t let Pep’s commentary change his game. He also joked? (said half-jokingly?) that he will dive again if it means winning a penalty kick for his side. And amidst all this nuttiness, we have some team news to cover, and we’ll start with the visitors.
Klopp has no fresh injury concerns for this one, but he’ll be without the services of three players who have long been ruled out of this one: Nathaniel Clyne, Xherdan Shaqiri and Joel Matip.
Turning to the hosts, they had enough injuries already entering into this week, but now starting goalkeeper Ederson is out for this one. The shot-stopper suffered a minor thigh injury in Wednesday night’s UCL draw with Atalanta, but it was major enough to make him miss the entire second half of the last game, and this one as well.
“He is not able to play,” Guardiola said of Ederson. “On Sunday he cannot play. We have another top keeper. We won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup thanks to Claudio. He is an exceptional goalkeeper.”
Additionally, some reports say that David Silva has been ruled out of this one due to a muscular injury. Guardiola did not address his status on Friday. The stellar pair are added to the list of City’s long term injury absentees: Leroy Sane, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Rodri.
Liverpool FC at Manchester City FYIs
Starting XI Predictions: Liverpool FC Manchester City
Kickoff: Sun Nov 10 4:30 BST, City of Manchester Stadium
Google Result Probability: Manchester City 38%, Draw 27%, Liverpool FC win 35%
Odds via Betway: Liverpool FC 6/4 Draw 13/5 Manchester City 17/10
Form Guide: Manchester City WWWLW Liverpool FC WWDWW
Prediction: Manchester City 2, Liverpool FC 2
I’m liking the two titanic sides to end up splitting the points here in this one.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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