Where will this blockbuster meeting between two Premier League rivals be decided? We take a look at five key areas that could prove crucial when Man City host Liverpool on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot face off at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, with both managers knowing there is little margin for error given Arsenal’s relentless start to the season.
In recent years, this fixture has often been the one to decide the Premier League title race, but perhaps it will only play an indirect role this season. Manchester City are in second but six points off the pace set by the Gunners after 10 games, with Liverpool a further point back. For once, both sides are chasing.
Still, with City increasingly built around Erling Haaland’s goals and Liverpool finding some form again under Slot, this remains a heavyweight clash full of intrigue.
It will also be Guardiola’s 1,000th game as a manager. Can he mark the occasion with a victory, or will Liverpool win at the Etihad as they did last season? Here are five key areas that could decide it.
Will Haaland or Salah Steal the Show?
Given the respective starts that Erling Haaland and Mohamed Salah have made to 2025-26, if either is to put in a match-winning performance at the Etihad this weekend, everything points towards that being City’s Norwegian goal machine.
Haaland has, after all, scored 13 goals in 10 Premier League games already, accounting for 65% of City’s goals all on his own. Last weekend, he put in another excellent display in front of goal as he scored twice in the 3-1 win over Bournemouth, and he added one more against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek. In all competitions this season, he has only failed to score in two games: against Aston Villa and Spurs.
In fact, he could break the record this weekend for being the fastest player to hit 100 Premier League goals – he only needs two more to reach the century.
Haaland’s record-breaking weekend?
Last season’s top scorer Salah, meanwhile, is on just four goals from 10 games. His golden boot quest for this campaign is surely already over, as it probably is for anyone not called Haaland.
However, while plenty of people have written Salah off in recent weeks, he has now scored in back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since February after netting in the defeat to Brentford and the win over Aston Villa. Is he back?
The last time he scored in consecutive Premier League games (six in a row), the final goal in the run was the opener from a well-worked corner in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at Man City last term. Salah has nine goals and six assists against City in the league – the most goal involvements anyone has managed against City in the competition’s history.
If the signs from the last two games are good for Liverpool, they could prove ominous for City. Salah, just as much as Haaland, is very much still capable of deciding this match.
Slot’s Winning Midfield
Prior to Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, former Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger claimed on beINSPORTS that Arne Slot had “destroyed” his midfield by trying to play Florian Wirtz as a number 10.
The Liverpool manager selected Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as his midfield trio against Aston Villa and Madrid, and to good effect, as much-improved performances saw the Reds win both games without conceding.
It was seen as Slot returning to the midfield trio who helped him to win the Premier League title in his first season in England. It was, though that did ignore the fact the same three players also started in midfield in recent defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Manchester United.
However, that is not to deny the impact it had in the last two games.
Gravenberch scored in the 2-0 win over Villa, Mac Allister headed in the winner vs Madrid, and Szoboszlai was pivotal in both victories back in his familiar advanced midfield role.
When you look at Liverpool’s record since Slot arrived at the start of last season, you can see why the general feeling is that they are better with that trio in the lineup.
In all competitions, all three have started 36 games together in that time, winning 26, drawing three and losing seven. That win percentage of 72.2% went down to 59.5% in the 37 games where at least one of them didn’t start (W22 D7 L8). They also only average 0.8 goals against per game with them as opposed to 1.4 goals against without at least one of them, though they do also average slightly fewer goals scored (1.9 per game with vs 2.3 without).
Liverpool with-without midfield three since 2024-25
One caveat for that is Liverpool’s 1-0 wins over Arsenal and Burnley this season both saw Szoboszlai playing at right-back, while one other interesting factor ahead of this game is that the versatile Hungarian also played in a double false nine alongside Curtis Jones in Liverpool’s 2-0 win at City last season.
That probably won’t happen this time due to the form of Hugo Ekitiké, but it seems certain Slot will go with the favoured midfield three at least. Will it be enough to swing the game Liverpool’s way?
Should Wirtz Keep His Place?
Following on from that, Slot also has a decision to make regarding how he uses Florian Wirtz.
Liverpool dominated against Madrid, racking up 2.51 xG and drawing eight saves out of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois before Mac Allister eventually broke the deadlock with a header from a Szoboszlai free-kick.
Meanwhile, they restricted Madrid to 0.45 xG and just two shots on target – their lowest in a Champions League game since their 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 2021-22 final.
Wirtz was key to their creativity from the left of the attack, rather than in a more central 10 position where he has mostly played for his new club.
Florian Wirtz touch map vs Real Madrid
The £116 million signing has struggled in league games since his move from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer but has performed impressively in Europe. He created five chances from open play against both Madrid and Atlético Madrid, meaning he’s the only Premier League player to tee up as many opportunities in more than one game across all competitions this season.
1 – Florian Wirtz is either the top or joint-top ranked player in the UEFA Champions League this season in each of these open play categories:
Chances created (16 – joint-1st)
Expected assists (2.1 – 1st)
Big chances created (4 – joint-1st)
Undeniable. pic.twitter.com/pkWMFcpPwQ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 6, 2025
He has been widely criticised for a lack of impact in Premier League games since he joined, but as he showed in midweek, there is no doubting his ability. The question is whether he can transfer his continental performances to domestic competition.
Cody Gakpo started on the left in the win over Villa last week and did well enough – as he almost always does – but Wirtz, who was the only change for the Madrid clash in an otherwise unchanged XI, gave an indication in midweek of just how high his ceiling is.
On Sunday, Slot will have to decide whether the potential the German playmaker brings is enough to stick with him for a difficult trip to the Etihad, or whether to go with the tried-and-tested, reliable Gakpo.
Can Bradley Deal with Dynamite Doku?
Although Liverpool won this fixture 2-0 the last time they met at the Etihad in February, one of the abiding memories of it was the way Manchester City, and Jérémy Doku in particular, targeted Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The Belgian winger completed 15 dribbles that day; only Adama Traoré (16 for Wolves vs Watford on 1 January 2020) has ever managed more on record in a Premier League game (since 2003-04).
Jeremy Doku dribbles v Liverpool Feb 2025
As the much-discussed (for some reason) booing emanating from Anfield on Tuesday reminded anyone who had forgotten, Alexander-Arnold no longer plays for Liverpool, but it is still an area opponents are attacking.
In the Premier League this season, teams have created 48.6% of their chances against Liverpool down the Reds’ right-hand side, comfortably the greatest proportion of any team in the league (ahead of Brighton – 44%).
Liverpool attacking third against Nov 2025
It is probably largely due to the uncertainty Liverpool have had in that position. Jeremie Frimpong was signed as Alexander-Arnold’s replacement but has only started six games due to injury, while Szoboszlai has been tried there, and Conor Bradley is only now getting back up to speed after his own injury layoff.
It will likely be Bradley starting at right-back on Sunday, though, and he arguably couldn’t have had a better test to prepare him for Doku’s likely onslaught.
The Northern Ireland captain came up against Vinícius Júnior on Tuesday and handled the Real Madrid star as well as anyone. The Brazilian won just one of his eight duels and didn’t complete any of his five dribbles.
Conor Bradley defensive actions vs Real Madrid Nov 2025
Doku is coming into the game in excellent form too, though. After MD10, he is one of only five players to have created 20+ chances in the Premier League this season (20), and his 3.3 chances created per 90 is his best rate for a single season in the competition (min. 250 mins played).
After 10 games, 40.6% of City’s chances created have come down their left, with only Everton (54.5%) and Wolves (40.9%) having more.
Man City attacking thirds for Nov 2025
Who will come out on top on Sunday? It should be a fascinating contest.
Foden Firing at the Right Time?
Phil Foden had a somewhat disappointing 2024-25 season. After recording 27 goals and 12 assists in all competitions in a phenomenal 2023-24, he only managed 10 goals and five assists last season as City lost their Premier League crown and failed to win any other trophy apart from the Community Shield.
This season didn’t seem to start all that much better for him, out of the England squad and with the general consensus being that Haaland’s goals were doing a lot of the heavy lifting for City in the early weeks of the campaign.
However, Foden very much came to the fore on Wednesday, scoring two sublime and almost identical goals in his team’s 4-1 UEFA Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.
Phil Foden first goal sequence v Dortmund
Phil Foden second goal sequence v Dortmund
And when you look at his underlying numbers, perhaps he had been playing better than most non-City fans gave him credit for. Like Doku, Foden is one of the five Premier League players to have created 20+ chances this season (20), while his per-90 average of 2.9 is also his best over a single season in the competition.
The 25-year-old has been rewarded with a recall to the Three Lions squad by Thomas Tuchel, and he could celebrate that by improving his record against Liverpool on Sunday.
Foden has three goals and two assists against the Reds in 13 appearances in all competitions, having only beaten them three times (D5 L5). He has never faced another team more than eight times without winning more than three times in his career.
If his Dortmund showing was anything to go by, though, Foden is primed to be a big thorn in the visitors’ side come Sunday.
Premier League Stats Opta
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