Do or die trip to Liverpool for champions Man City

LIVERPOOL (AP):

Pep Guardiola doesn’t like going to Anfield at the best of times.

“They scare me,” the Manchester City manager said of Liverpool and their prolific, Mohamed Salah-led strikeforce during a fly-on-the-wall documentary back in 2018, when Guardiola’s team was comfortably the finest in England.

Just imagine what he is thinking now?

Amid the worst run of results in his coaching career, Guardiola probably would prefer any other fixture on the calendar than Liverpool away.

But that’s what is facing him and his beleaguered defending champions tomorrow in the biggest modern-day Premier League rivalry which, on current form, threatens to be a mismatch.

“It’s going to be as tough as it is possible to be,” City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan said, “but that sums up the situation right now.”

Indeed, Liverpool and City — separated by eight points — are trending in opposite directions.

Liverpool not only lead the Premier League, but also the 36-team Champions League. They are coming off a win over Real Madrid, and have won 17 of their 19 games in all competitions this season, losing just once.

City just squandered a 3-0 lead from the 75th minute to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord, having previously lost five straight games including 4-0 at home to Tottenham. Guardiola has never lost so many games in a row in his coaching career. The team has conceded at least two goals in each of those six games and 17 in total. City are in 17th place in the Champions League standings and might be out of the Premier League top four come tomorrow night.

Guardiola acknowledged fairly bluntly this week: “We’re not able to win games now. As a team, we always found a way to win games ... but right now, nothing happens.”

So how have things fallen apart for City, the winners of the last four Premier League titles, so spectacularly?

Injuries

City are dearly missing season-long absentee Rodri, the Ballon d’Or winner and the holding midfielder who is so important in conducting their attacking play and protecting the defence. Mateo Kovacic has been acting as Rodri’s replacement but returned from Croatia duty injured last week and missed the 4-0 loss to Tottenham, as well as the Feyenoord game. None of City’s four senior centre backs — John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake, seems 100 per cent healthy either. All were absent two weeks ago, and are being rushed back, possibly prematurely. Meanwhile, star playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, hasn’t started a match since the middle of September because a nagging groin injury.

Tactical flaws

All teams have injuries, however, and it’s about how you deal with them. Guardiola, for all his undoubted genius as a tactician, hasn’t done so very well. He has admitted to being unwilling to change his style, and is wedded to a heavy-pressing, possession-based approach whatever personnel he has available. Other coaches might switch tactics in the circumstances, possibly playing more defensively and primarily on the counterattack — like Carlo Ancelotti did with Real Madrid at City in the Champions League last season. Guardiola says he can’t do that. If City try to go toe to toe with a dynamic Liverpool tomorrow, it could go badly wrong.

Today’s matches

Brentford vs Leicester

Crystal Palace vs Newcastle

Nottingham vs Ipswich

Wolves vs Bournemouth

Above matches kick off at 10 a.m.

12:30 p.m: West Ham vs Arsenal