It's the big one. Well, the latest big one. Liverpool welcome Manchester City to Anfield in the Premier League with sights set on strengthening Arne Slot's pursuit of the title.
It's quite early to be considering title aspirations with any sincerity, but Liverpool have established a stunning eight-point lead at the top-flight's summit and thus must entertain the notion of lifting that elusive trophy.
Salah-Robertson-Liverpool
Of course, were Pep Guardiola to mastermind an upset on Merseyside, the narrative should shift in an instant, but the Reds will be convinced in their cause and confident in their ability to sink the usually indomitable holders deeper into the mire.
City have fallen by the wayside in recent weeks, losing five matches in a row across all competitions before curbing that miserable run with a draw against Feyenoord in the Champions League this week. Albeit, they held a three-goal advantage with 26 minutes left to play. But details, details.
Liverpool: Recent Record vs Manchester City
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Stats via Transfermarkt
But they are still the greatest team of their generation. Guardiola is viewed by some as the greatest football coach of all time. Subjective, of course, but there's a case to be made.
Liverpool will be ready to obliterate their arch-rivals of modern years, opening up a chasmic 11-point gap between the champions and the challengers, with the latter very much on top. There are, frustratingly, some injuries that the Anfield side will need to overcome.
Liverpool team news
Ibrahima Konate was clattered to the ground by Real Madrid's Endrick on Wednesday evening and will now be sidelined for up to five weeks. It's a cruel, cruel blow, with the centre-half one of Liverpool's best players this season.
The situation is exacerbated by Conor Bradley's hamstring injury, also suffered in the dying embers against Los Blancos. The Northern Irish right-back absolutely shackled Mbappe but is expected to miss a key chunk of the campaign, though less than Konate, as he recuperates.
Diogo Jota is approaching a comeback after a layoff, but Federico Chiesa, signed in the summer for a sharp £12.5m fee, is not ready for action.
Diogo Jota and Arne Slot
Trent Alexander-Arnold was an unused substitute against Carlo Ancelotti's side and Slot has confirmed that he is fit to start against Man City. He could be the difference-maker.
Why Slot must unleash Trent Alexander-Arnold
Alexander-Arnold is becoming something of a notorious name on Merseyside this season, with the homegrown superstar playing out the final year of his contract.
Trent Alexander-Arnold vs Man United
Aged 26, Alexander-Arnold is entering his prime and is one of the best full-backs in the world, boasting a riot of ball-playing specialities that have arrested Real Madrid's interest.
The Athletic's David Ornstein has revealed that Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes is trying to renew Trent's £180k-per-week contract but has yet to find a breakthrough, with no clear picture of the outcome.
Of course, Anfield will want to keep a hold of this one, but there's no inkling as to whether they will be successful. Even so, he will continue to provide his awe-inspiring quality for the remainder of the current campaign, with Sky Sports' Jamie Carragher saying: "It's like having Kevin De Bruyne playing at right-back."
As per FBref, the Three Lions gem ranks among the top 9% of full-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for assists, the top 2% for shot-creating actions, the top 3% for passes attempted and the top 1% for progressive passes per 90.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent's goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
And therein lies Guardiola's problem.
Alexander-Arnold is different to Bradley, doesn't carry the same bouncing athleticism. However, his defence-splitting passing is a thing to behold, and he could utilise this to take advantage of a shaky Citizen defence that is perhaps a bit lost at the moment.
Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold
Missing Rodri in the middle of the park, sure, but City are also facing adversity of a different nature to anything encountered across the past eight years. Shoddy in defence, the imperious team have made six errors across all competitions this year, which is already above last term's tally of five errors made.
Liverpool's opponents have some structural issues and Slot must ensure that his squad take full advantage, producing the kind of slick and stylish football that could negate City's suffocating approach.
Liverpool have morphed into an outfit with greater composure and more patient build-up play than the days of Klopp, but this is not to say that they cannot be incisive when it matters. Slot will expect City to hold plenty of the ball, but Alexander-Arnold's ability to change the direction and flow of a match in a flash could prove to be Guardiola's undoing.
There's also the matter of the 26-year-old's improved defensive performances. Long ridiculed for purportedly bad defending, Trent has won 55% of his contested ground duels across 11 Premier League fixtures this season while averaging 2.8 tackles per game, ranking him among the top nine defenders in the division for that metric despite missing last weekend's victory over Southampton.
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Hailed for his "world-class" ability by pundit and Manchester United legend Gary Neville, Alexander-Arnold could be the key to unlocking City's beleaguered defence. Losing Bradley is a blow, for sure, but Slot's system will only return to a higher power with this one back in the mix.
Whether Liverpool manage to defeat the Premier League's best team remains to be seen, but if they do, that gulf might start to look a tad unreachable for Pep's men.
Andy Robertson in action for Liverpool Related
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