Prediction & odds for the game: Manchester City (19/20) v Liverpool (12/5)

When: Sunday, 8th November @ 4.30pm K.O

Where: Etihad Stadium

Manchester City will host Liverpool this weekend in what could prove to be a huge moment in this season’s Premier League title race.

Manchester City

Pep Guardiola is desperate to try and reclaim the Premier League title for Manchester City and after the manner in which they lost it last season, it’s not exactly hard to understand why. A lot has been made of the uncertain start they’ve had in the new campaign, but even with that being taken into consideration, they’re still unbelievably dangerous. If they’re taken lightly at the Etihad on Sunday, which is unlikely, things could get ugly.

A narrow 1-0 win over Arsenal followed by a victory over Porto in the Champions League helped to steady the ship for City, but after drawing 1-1 with West Ham, some serious questions were being asked by fans – and understandably so. Thankfully for those supporters, Pep’s men have answered the call with three straight wins and clean sheets against Marseille, Sheffield United and Olympiacos.

Liverpool

Liverpool are still known as being one of the two best teams in the game right now, perhaps alongside Bayern Munich. However, a handful of their slip-ups this season have raised a few eyebrows regarding their ability to turn this hot streak of theirs into a dynasty. Alas, Jurgen Klopp isn’t the sort of manager who is going to crumble under the pressure, and you can bet this squad will continue to go from strength to strength under his leadership.

The controversial 2-2 draw against rivals Everton back in October really did seem to wake Liverpool up to the reality of their situation. They edged past Ajax and Sheffield United, broke down the wall of Midtjylland, just about managed to overcome West Ham and then put on their best performance of the season so far in a 5-0 demolition of Atalanta.

Conclusion

Even though we’re talking about two of the most exciting teams in world football today, we’ve still got a niggling feeling that this isn’t going to live up to the expectations set by some of their recent meetings. Both teams will be well aware of their defensive frailties and while that should, and could, lead to a thrilling shootout, we think the exact opposite is going to happen. We’re backing a stalemate that, in all truth, will probably frustrate both title chasers.

A stalemate, unfortunately from our point of view, means an unlikely 0-0 result – which is why we’re going to be backing the under 2.5 goals market for this colossal showdown.

Verdict: Back the draw at odds of 16/5 and the under 2.5 goals scored at odds of 7/4 (All odds are taken from bet365).

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If you want to bet on Manchester City vs Liverpool then head on over to the betting page. Alternatively, you can check out some of the other available fixtures at the soccer predictions page ahead of what should be an exciting and hectic few months of Premier League football.