Liverpool welcomes title rivals Manchester City to Anfield on Sunday. The Premier League champions host the leaders following a bad run of form for the Reds.
Seven points separate the two sides in the table, combined with a relentless winning streak from the men of Pep Guardiola in recent weeks.
This has been the fixture to have the greatest effect on the title race so much in recent seasons.
And, although there are more teams still in contention this time around, it may once again be a critical showdown. Liverpool is arguably more important than Man City, however, with the recent form of the visitors giving them some margin for error. In their last eight Premier League outings, a run of only two wins left Jurgen Klopp’s side seven points behind the leaders.
While Man City have played a game less, and if that gap increases to 10 or even remains at seven this weekend, then it’s hard to see them make up for the deficit over the rest of the season.
So far this season, Man City shipped just 13 goals in their 21 Premier League outings. And the last of those came on January 3, more than a month ago. Since then, the leaders have held six clean sheets on the bounce. This means they have now kept more clean sheets than they have conceded goals this season.
Also they have been stopping the opposition from scoring in 14 of their 21 matches. Another one on Sunday will see them record for the first time seven consecutive Premier League clean sheets. But an even more remarkable slice of history is still within their reach as they look to equal the best-ever winning streak in all competitions for an English top-flight team.
Liverpool could be handed a triple injury boost, with Klopp announcing that Sadio Mane, Alisson Becker and Fabinho will all be back in training in advance. The injury problems of the champions are still severe-Joel Matip, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez could all miss the rest of the season, while Diogo Jota and Naby Keita still remain sidelined.
In Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne, Man City are still missing a few main players, both of whom will miss the trip to Anfield due to fitness problems.
Liverpool possible starting lineup: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Kabak, Fabinho, Robertson; Thiago, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Salah, Firmino, Mane
Manchester City possible starting lineup: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Dias, Cancelo; Bernardo, Rodri, Gundogan; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
