Liverpool welcome the champions to Anfield — and they will be looking to lay down a marker against their title rivals. 

A win for the Reds would open up a four-point gap over Manchester City with just seven matches on the board. 

It is by no means a season-defining game at this stage but a victory for Jurgen Klopp’s men would certainly be a statement. 

That could tempt the German tactician into trying something a little different when the Citizens come to town this afternoon.

Liverpool went to the Etihad Stadium last season and surprised everyone by switching up their system. 

Klopp has almost exclusively used a 4-3-3 shape during his time on Merseyside but he opted to go with an attacking 4-2-3-1 on the day.

With Diogo Jota in fine form ahead of that clash, the Reds named him in their starting XI alongside Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino. 

The away side started brightly and broke the deadlock after just 13 minutes — Salah rolling a penalty past Ederson following Kyle Walker’s foul on Mane — but City drew level just 18 minutes later and the game ended in a draw. 

What is interesting, however, is that the visitors out-shot the hosts 10-7. The execution might not have been perfect, but the idea clearly had some merit.

The tinkerer

Guardiola is famed for his subtle tweaks in the quest for perfection, while Klopp is often painted as someone who is solely reliant on man-management to inspire players. 

This season, though, the Reds have been trying different things on an almost weekly basis.

The introduction of Harvey Elliott as a midfielder saw a shift in the dynamic on the right. Along with Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Elliott would pop up as a winger, a right-back and a central midfielder. 

Against Porto in the Champions League, this was mirrored with Curtis Jones playing on the left of midfield and linking up well with Andrew Robertson and Mane. 

Klopp has also tweaked how Mane and Jota operate. 

The latter is named as the No9 in the starting XI but often swaps with the former — and it is giving the Reds a unique balance on the left, with both players getting into dangerous areas with great regularity. 

Liverpool shifted to a 4-2-3-1 in their last Premier League outing and although it did not necessarily go to plan, with Brentford stealing a late equaliser, it did show that the Merseysiders’ boss had this system in his mind ahead of today’s match.

Cracking the City defence

Remarkably, City have not conceded a goal in the Premier League since their opening-weekend defeat to Tottenham. 

Last week, Guardiola’s men managed to successfully close down Romelu Lukaku during the win over Chelsea, with the powerhouse forward unable to muster a single shot at Stamford Bridge. 

In fact, City have allowed opponents just five shots on target in their six Premier League fixtures, two of which arrived in the loss to Spurs. 

Defensively, they are at their meanest ever — and that is despite their injury woes, which have seen John Stones sidelined and Aymeric Laporte miss two games. 

If you are wanting to get the best of this backline, you might need to think outside of the box.

Goals, goals, goals 

Liverpool are the joint-top goalscorers in the Premier League. They are also the team averaging the most shots per 90 minutes (23.5) and they rank first for expected goals per 90 (2.82). 

No player in England’s top-flight has more goals than Salah (five) and he is in arguably the best form of his career.

The Egyptian’s eight goals and two assists in eight outings is more than he had managed at this stage of the 2017-18 campaign, when he went on to score 32 in the Premier League and 11 in the Champions League. 

Mane, despite his many misses, has three in the Premier League and one in the Champions League. 

Ahead of the match against Crystal Palace in mid-September, Klopp focused on just how sharp his No10 has looked this season. 

He said: “Sadio looks really good, he looks really sharp. 

“I know we talk about these things when a striker misses some chances, but that he has the amount of chances he has, the amount of finishes he has, that’s actually the important stuff.”

Jota is also only one behind Mane with three goals, having filled in for the injured Firmino for the majority of the campaign.

He started life as a winger but has been transformed into a fox in the box at Anfield — a role he excels at. 

The Liverpool attack is littered with goals, with Firmino even managing to score three times in his limited minutes this term (just 126 in total).

Squad depth

For the first time in what feels like a very long time, the Reds have serious depth in attack.

They had it for a period last season but multiple injuries to Jota meant it was the famed front three or bust for Klopp. 

With Firmino back, the former Dortmund boss has four genuine options up top, as well as Divock Origi, who looked sharp against AC Milan recently. 

But who knows if this sort of luck will last. It is why, perhaps, Klopp might look to make the most of having these options by fielding all four against City today.

Source: Livescore.