Liverpool predicted line-ups and teams for the Premier League clash against Manchester City on Sunday afternoon
Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas of Liverpool
Trey Nyoni and Lewis Koumas of Liverpool(Image: Steve Bardens/Getty Images)
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And we're back. After a seemingly interminable international break, the proper stuff resumes for Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday with the Premier League visit of Manchester City.
With it City's first game since being found guilty of 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules, the spotlight will be shone even stronger than usual on the fixture.
Liverpool have a poor recent record against the Etihad outfit and lost three times against them last season, the most recent of which was a dreadful 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final drubbing in April.
But how should the Reds line up for what is likely to be a volatile Anfield occasion? Our ECHO writers take a look...
READ MORE: Bradley Barcola drops Liverpool selection hint vs Man City and makes 'very different' admission
Paul Gorst
This is not an ideal time to have your two most potent attacking players out but Andoni Iraola still has two £100m players to choose from today so the violins mustn’t be too sizeable here.
The question, of course, is how he deploys Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz and with Isak out I suspect the latter could fill in as a false nine.
Wirtz does as much running as anyone in that Liverpool team so the idea of him pressing and hounding City’s defenders is something for Iraola to consider.
The Reds boss told us on Friday that he had been working on ways to retain the new-found defensive solidity while making his team a bit more adventurous in the final third.
Having said that, I still suspect Ronald Araujo to start at right-back and with Wirtz at centre forward, a midfield three of Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister gives the team some balance.
My team (4-3-3): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch; Munoz, Wirtz, Barcola.
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 23: Florian
Wirtz of Liverpool FC during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Newcastle United and Liverpool FC at St James' Park on August 23, 2026 in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Florian Wirtz could be utilised as a 'false 9' for Liverpool against Man City(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
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Ian Doyle
It wouldn't be an international break without Liverpool players returning injured. And the elongated national team duty only increased the likelihood of crocks, with Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo falling foul of such an inevitability.
Andoni Iraola already has a number of selection posers without those additional concerns. What, then, is the Reds boss to do?
There shouldn't be any change in the rearguard, which means Alisson Becker in goal, Milos Kerkez at left-back, Ronald Araujo continuing at right-back and Jeremy Jacquet, having shrugged off a minor injury worry that forced him to miss out for France in midweek, partnering skipper Virgil van Dijk at centre-back.
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The big alterations come elsewhere. Dominik Szoboszlai will be needed a bit further upfield in the number 10 role, which means Alexis Mac Allister needs a partner at the base of midfield. And it's time for Trey Nyoni to make his first Premier League start ahead of Ryan Gravenberch.
Up top, then, sees Florian Wirtz as a false number nine, with Bradley Barcola on the right flank and Rio Ngumoha on the left. Victor Munoz and Lewis Koumas can provide energy from the bench in the second half.
My team (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Nyoni, Mac Allister; Barcola, Szoboszlai, Ngumoha; Wirtz.
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Mark Jones
While the occasion and circumstances around this game point to a difficult afternoon for Manchester City, there are a couple of absences on the Liverpool teamsheet that will hearten the recently disgraced visitors.
Andoni Iraola's Reds would have been a much tougher proposition for Enzo Maresca's men to face if they had Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo in their ranks on Sunday, but alas both Liverpool's top scorer and best player this season will be unavailable.
That won't affect the selection of the goalkeeper and back four of course, with Alisson Becker playing behind an unchanged quartet of Ronald Araujo, Jeremy Jacquet, Virgil van Dijk and Milos Kerkez, as the Frenchman's injury scare proved to be nothing more than just that.
In midfield, Iraola's decision to turn to Trey Nyoni from the bench ahead of Ryan Gravenberch at Bournemouth indicated that the youngster might just be ahead of his more established team-mate in the pecking order now, and so he can partner the in-form Alexis Mac Allister in the centre, with Dominik Szoboszlai pushed forward as the number 10.
Victor Munoz can then get a start on the right, as the player who has perhaps looked most at home there this season, with Bradley Barcola on the left and Florian Wirtz as the false nine, leaving Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas available to be unleashed from the bench.
My team (4-2-3-1): Alisson; Araujo, Jacquet, Van Dijk, Kerkez; Nyoni, Mac Allister; Munoz, Szoboszlai, Barcola; Wirtz.
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