Manchester City v Liverpool Match Preview –10th April 2018

Manchester City v Liverpool Preview

Wednesday evening got off to a bad start for Man City who had their bus pelted with coins and bottles as they got to Anfield. It didn’t get any better on the pitch as Liverpool pelted the City defence with an impressive display of attacking football.

Man City were a little unfortunate with the way the ball broke once or twice but they can’t say they weren’t warned. Jurgen Klopp employed similarly attacking tactics when the two teams met in the Premier League at Anfield but it looked as though the away side either hadn’t prepared or were unable to cope with the numbers flooding forward.

It’s not the first time that a Guardiola team has come unstuck during a big European away game but Man City do at least have a chance to turn things around, slim as that chance may be. They blew Liverpool away 5-0 at the Etihad when the two teams met in the league back in September and Guardiola will be utilising all of his man management prowess to give his players the belief that they can pull off something special.

There is no doubt that the Anfield crowd played a significant part in the outcome of the first leg. Nobody wants to see the scenes that greeted the Man City bus but Anfield under the lights lived up to the billing during the match. It remains to be seen whether the City fans can give their team the sort of boost that the Liverpool fans did but if the home side take an early lead, the Etihad will really start rocking. From a neutral’s point of view that would be the perfect outcome but how attacking can Guardiola go with the knowledge that an away goal could effectively end the tie?

Relevant Stats, Injuries and Suspensions

Last week’s win makes it four wins for Liverpool from their last six meetings against Man City. It also strengthens Klopp’s head to head record against Pep Guardiola to seven wins from 13 encounters. The German got the better of the tactical battle once again against the man that many people believe is the best manager in the world which gives Liverpool fans even more hope that they’ll be able to hold onto their three goal lead at the Etihad.

Man City may be as big as 5/1 to qualify for the semi finals but there is Champions League precedent for teams coming back from the dead. Guardiola’s men would become just the third team to recover from a deficit of three goals or more but they are the top goalscorers in the Premier League and have scored three or more goals an incredible 24 times in all competitions.

The problem that City will have is stopping Liverpool. The Reds have scored in all but one of their last 18 matches in all competitions and are the top scorers in the Champions League with 31 goals.

Liverpool fans will hope that Mo Salah’s withdrawal in the first leg was only precautionary but they’re sure to miss both Joel Matip and Adam Lallana. Joe Gomez and Ragnar Klavan add to Klopp’s injury issues in defence. Man City may have to make do without Sergio Aguero while Bernard Mendy continues his recovery from an ACL injury.

Manchester City v Liverpool Tips

Everybody who has seen even the slightest amount of Man City and Liverpool this season knew to expect goals and entertaining football last Wednesday. Liverpool were impressive in the way the shut the game down in the second half but there’s no danger of them trying to kill the second leg.

Man City should win but Liverpool are more than capable of scoring so back the home win and both teams to score at 15/8 with Betfair. Other tempting bets for the match include over 3.5 goals at 6/5 with Ladbrokes and both teams to score in the second half at 29/20 with BetVictor.