League leaders Manchester City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night, in what will be the first of three fixtures to be played between the two clubs in January.
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| Balotelli was sent off in the 1-1 draw at Anfield in November 2011 |
The two Premier League outfits will first battle it out in their second Premier League fixture of the season, the first of which was a 1-1 draw at Anfield at the end of November. Two legs of the League Cup Semi-Final then await the Citizens and the Reds, with a Wembley final the prize.
Liverpool travel the short distance to Manchester having just defeated Alan Pardew’s Newcastle convincingly at Anfield last Friday. Kenny Dalglish’s men were without the banned Luis Suarezin their last league run out, however, another positive to take from their last game besides the win, was the triumphant return of the club captain Steven Gerrard. The skipper came on in the second half to change the flow of the game and bag himself a long awaited goal and lead his team to victory. Suarez will be eligible for the game against City and the prospect of Gerrard and the tricky Uruguayan linking up once again is daunting for any team to face.
Roberto Mancini’s rant about the congestion of fixtures was supported by Dalglish, however, one can’t help but feel the Liverpool boss will be feeling slightly more comfortable going into this fixture, having had three whole days rest, compared to City’s one. Mancini’s men missed the opportunity to gain a three-point advantage on their neighbours Manchester United at the top of the table, when they lost in dramatic fashion to a late Sunderland winner on New Year’s day. City still sit on top of the table, level on points with United and will be hoping that their previous one victory in 13 games against the Reds can be joined by another.
The Etihad Stadium has become something of a fortress in recent times, with City picking up 52 points out of a possible 54 in 2011, Fulham being the last team to leave with a point in February. Liverpool have been struggling at home this season, but fortunes have favoured them on the road, having taken 16 points from nine away games. The Merseyside team have only lost once in 14 games, a 1-0 defeat to Fulham at Craven Cottage at the beginning of December, but have since notched up an unbeaten run of five games throughout the festive period.
Manchester City have no injury troubles to worry about going into this crunch fixture, with Mario Balotelli set to return after missing the Sunderland defeat with an ankle problem. As for Liverpool, Gerrard could be in contention for a league start after completing two substitute appearances and impressing in his last run out, showing signs of his previous match-winning form. Suarez is also likely to feature in Dalglish’s starting line-up in a game where Jose Enrique is the last outfield player left in the Liverpool team to have played every minute of their league games this season.
Possible starting XIs:
Man City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, Y.Toure, Milner, Silva, Aguero, Balotelli.
Liverpool: Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique, Adam, Gerrard, Downing, Spearing, Bellamy, Suarez.
Manchester City vs Liverpool is live on Sky Sports 1/HD1 on Tuesday 3rd January 2012. KO 20:00
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