Liverpool vs Man City: EPL fixture score and goal updates

And, more than ever before, he accepted that it involves a rebuild. Guardiola committed himself to it, and not merely by putting pen to paper. He cited the reality that, six months ago, City were crowned champions, FA Cup finalists, a side only knocked out of the Champions League on penalties by Real Madrid. “But the football life changed in one thing and another,” he added.

Guardiola’s has changed with five defeats and a draw in a match City had been winning 3-0. He has a cut to his nose, a dent to his pride, but also an argument that the unusual element was not City’s recent slide but how long they sustained success. But if it has exposed the need for an overhaul, it is instructive Guardiola has admitted it and suggested he wants to shape a new side.

Arne Slot hailed Pep Guardiola as an inspiration and said he is expecting the Manchester City manager to come up with a “brilliant idea” to end their winless run and show why he is the “best in the world” ahead of facing Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.

Slot pointed to Rodri’s absence and further injuries as a reason to explain their slump, but the Dutch coach explained that he believes City’s performances have not been as bad as their results and they remain a “very, very good team”.

However, City have clawed back deficits of between 8 and 0 points to win the Premier League title on six occasions – and all at a later stage of the campaign than now.

In fact, four of Guardiola’s six Premier League title-winning seasons, they have overturned gaps of eight points or more.

There are some worthy stats to note depending on the outcome of today’s game. Note that, if Liverpool win, they’ll have a gap of 11 points on City. If City win, that gap will be five points.

In the 32 Premier League seasons, only three times have teams come from 11 or more points behind at any point to win the title (of course, Arsenal are closer than City).

City themselves have never managed to win the title after being behind by more than 10 points, and only once has a team had an 11-point lead after 13 games – Manchester United in the 1993-94 season, who went on to win the title. 

In addition, City could become the first Premier League champions to lose four successive games the following season.

City have lost three successive league games, as part of a six-match run of five defeats and a draw, and arrive at Anfield eight points behind their hosts.

An 18th win in 20 matches this season would put Arne Slot’s side 11 points clear of their opponents but Van Dijk said even in December that advantage would not be decisive.

It was certainly unusual, but these are unusual times. The 3-3 collapse at home to Feyenoord made it even clearer that City’s form is more than a blip. In the space of just five games, Guardiola has suffered a worst ever league defeat, a worst ever run of losses – with four becoming five – and a first ever game where one of his teams squandered a three-goal lead. A 3-0 advantage over Feyenoord at home was supposed to be the sort of situation where form self-corrects but it just saw more calamitous error. Those at Liverpool have been comparing it to Jurgen Klopp’s 2022-23 season, which the German felt he couldn’t leave as his last campaign at Anfield. The same club can now make it even more torrid for City. They sense opportunity.

So does pretty much everyone that faces the champions right now. It feeds into this striking feeling about City’s form. Every time you think it can’t possibly get worse, it does. That alone has been a shock to confidence, one that is compounding everything.

Guardiola did make more comments regarding his situation, adding that he has this sort of margin for error due to his achievements.

“It isn’t normal in the big clubs to do what we’ve done. We have to accept it.

“I want to stay, the moment I feel not positive I will go. But I want the opportunity to try and rebuild the team in many aspects from now on until the end of the season and then next.

“I ask for this challenge, I ask for this opportunity to do it. Because I feel it. I know what I want to do, what we have to do, knowing in the moment our consistency we had, we don’t have it right now.”

But Guardiola, who signed a new contract last week, said managers at clubs like City are in “trouble” if they stop winning as they said they could not “cry all the time” that Rodri is injured.

Much has been made of how Liverpool could go 11 points clear of City today, but as it stands, other clubs are closer to the Reds at the top of the table.

Brighton’s draw with Southampton on Friday put them into second place, ahead of City on goal difference, before Arsenal’s win on Saturday evening meant they leapfrogged the Seagulls into second place, on 25 points.

Chelsea kick off against Aston Villa at 1.30pm today, and they could go second themselves if they win by enough goals.

Ahead of the match, here’s a rundown of the early team news for both sides, including recent injuries and any players who might return.