Premiership Manchester City v Liverpool

Posted on | April 13, 2007 | No Comments

The old north west rivals lock horns again in what has been a very lucky fixture for Liverpool over the years – you need to go back to 2005 for Man City’s last point against Liverpool on home turf.

While not mathematically safe, Manchester City are unlikely to get pulled back into the relegation battle after a four match unbeaten run for Stuart Pearce’s outfit.  Liverpool have recorded three wins and a draw out of their last four Premiership games, as well as progressing in the Champions League along the way.

Manchester City will welcome back the experience of ex-Newcastle favourite Dietmar Hamann who has been out through injury.  They will also have the services of Stephen Jordan although Paul Dickov and Micah Richard are both still out of action and unavailable.  When all of his players are fit Stuart Pearce has an interesting mixture of youth and experience, with the City youth program proving very fruitful.

Liverpool on the other hand had the benefit of resting captain Steven Gerrard, Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher and Javier Mascherano from their mid-week Champions League quarter final second leg victory, which was a foregone conclusion after their 3 – 0 first leg win at PSV Eindhoven.  The club are also holding onto third place in the Premiership, with a four point gap over closest rivals Arsenal.  They are the form team of England at the moment, and the fact that key players were rested in mid-week improves their chances against City.

The form and history of the fixture seem to be leaning towards Liverpool, and the fact that Peter Crouch is on fire bolds well for the merseysiders.  Even though the City defence has been very mean of late, with three clean sheets in the last four games, they are coming up against a class attacking outfit with goals possible from a variety of players.  City have not scored a goal in any of their last five home games, which is becoming a big worry for Stuart Pearce.

When you weigh up the recent attacking exploits of Liverpool, it is difficult to see them not scoring in the fixture, while Manchester City seem unable to score at home.  There may be some relief that City have escaped the looming relegation battles ahead, and this may play into the hands of a Liverpool team who are on fire.

Forecast : Away Win

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2. Premiership Tottenham v Manchester City
3. Premiership Manchester City v Manchester United
4. Hull City v Liverpool preview- Premiership
5. Stoke City vs Liverpool preview- English Premiership

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