Man City (Etihad) - Match Preview & Discussion Thread (April 1st)

Crazy week ahead, but then it gets easier (on paper)

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Note: Gary will add his usual pre-match stuff below in due course, but to get the debate going, I've written this instead.

Fool!

More fool us that after another disruptive international break we go for an early kickoff to start a spree of games that involves City, Chelsea and Arsenal in just over a week (with those other teams having either easier games before/after or in Arsenal's case, none at all).

Clearly this all starts on April fool's day.

But the better news is that Liverpool then have nine winnable games, including Spurs at home, and no European distractions. Playing against the smaller clubs has been an issue this season, but 'run-in focus' can overcome that. Any casualness will prove costly.

It will surely be a case of falling further behind (to get five points from the next three games would be an achievement in the circumstances), but then Newcastle and Spurs have their own horror runs later on. So we have to bear that in mind and not panic if the table looks worse after the Reds have played 29 games than it does now, after 26.

Spurs visit Anfield three days after playing Man United and seven days after playing Newcastle.

Newcastle still face Man United, Spurs, Everton (away, which is tougher these days), Brentford (away) and Arsenal, and end with Chelsea at home.

If they try to catch up, Chelsea, after facing the Reds and Wolves away, play Real Madrid and a kind of grudge-match against Brighton before facing Madrid again, then have a run of games including Brentford and Arsenal, before ending with Man City and Newcastle. Plus, a rescheduled game against Man United.

Whatever happens, Newcastle and Spurs will have to drop some points, if only against each other. And neither club (yet) has a record of handling pressure very well.

For Liverpool, with Luis Díaz back in contention and hopefully everyone okay after the international break (only Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Mo Salah and Andy Robertson appeared to play almost every minute of both games, from what I can see), it feels like the time to really focus and just go for it.

City also have their issues. Phil Foden is out, and Erling Haaland may not be fit (but you suspect he will be). Subscribers can see where that pair rank in my piece from earlier this week, along with Liverpool's attackers over the past six seasons:

Liverpool Have Elite Finishers in the Squad – But They're (Probably) Not Who You Think

Díaz is one of the Reds’ clear over-performers on the metric, so his ability to turn half-chances into goals could be vital, if he can get up to speed. Even as a sub, he could change a game for 20 minutes, even if he can’t last the full 90.

The rest of this preview and the debate is for paying subscribers only.