Manchester City travel to Merseyside this weekend to take on table-topping Liverpool in the hope of preventing an 11-point deficit from emerging in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola and his players are without a win in any competition for over a month, having lost five matches in a row before throwing away a three-goal lead with 15 minutes remaining against Feyenoord on Tuesday night to draw 3-3 in the UEFA Champions League.
The clash against Liverpool marks the start of a hectic run of fixtures across January, with mammoth clashes in the Premier League against the likes of Manchester United, Aston Villa, and Crystal Palace, as well as a European away trip to Juventus.
Liverpool could not be in more contrasting form however, losing just one match and drawing another across their Premier League fixtures so far this season, and coming into the meeting with Manchester City off the back of a 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola’s injury and fitness situation remains largely unchanged this weekend, with John Stones and Mateo Kovacic expected to remain absent alongside the longer-term recovery processes of Rodri and Oscar Bobb.
As for Arne Slot, the Liverpool boss was hit with fresh injury blows to Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley in midweek joining the likes of Alisson and Diogo Jota amongst others in being ruled out this weekend. However, Trent Alexander-Arnold is now available.
Ahead of kick-off at Anfield, here is how both Arne Slot and Pep Guardiola have lined up their respective Liverpool and Manchester City sides in Premier League action!
Liverpool
Starting XI: Kelleher; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson; Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister; Salah, Gakpo, Diaz.
Substitutes: Jaros, Davies, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Quansah, Morton, Nyoni.
Manchester City
Starting XI: Ortega Moreno; Walker (C), Dias, Akanji, Ake; Lewis, Gundogan, Nunes; Bernardo, Haaland, Foden.
Substitutes: Ederson, Carson, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, De Bruyne, McAtee, Savinho, Doku, Grealish.