This weekend’s opening Premier League fixture sees a battle between two potential title rivals as Manchester City host Liverpool.
Manchester City recorded an incredibly dramatic win last time out against Bournemouth as Raheem Sterling scored in the 97th minute to secure a 2-1 victory – Sterling’s subsequent red card means he will miss this match. City are currently going along nicely in fourth place in the Premier League.
Despite possessing an abundance of attacking riches, it is interesting to note that Pep Guardiola’s side have only found the back of the net five times in their three outings so far. Defensively they have been okay with just two goals conceded so far, however, they have still not kept a clean sheet since opening day.
The Citizens drew their only home match of the season so far although generally, they do have a fantastic record on their own patch with no defeats in any competition since 3rd December 2016. Having said that, they have only kept four clean sheets in their 13 home matches since then.
Liverpool have been going very well in the opening few weeks of this season and they currently sit second in the Premier League with seven points from three matches. Before the international break, they put rivals Arsenal to the sword with a sublime 4-0 thrashing.
A huge boost for the Reds in the recent summer transfer window was that they kept hold of key man Philippe Coutinho, although he is not available for this match against City. This, along with the purchases of Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, means that Liverpool’s attack is even more potent than last season. It is no wonder that they have scored eight goals in their last two competitive outings. However, Jurgen Klopp has once again failed to reinforce his poor defence which means they are still very vulnerable. Having said that, they have kept two clean sheets in their last two Premier League games.
Jurgen Klopp’s men have had an excellent away record in the Premier League in the last few months and, before their draw down at Watford on opening day, they had recorded four consecutive competitive victories on their travels. Furthermore, going into this match, Liverpool will take confidence from the fact they have not lost at Manchester City since 2014.
Given these two sides both have a very attacking style of play, I think we will see a few goals here. With this in mind, I am going with the result-neutral option of Both Teams to Score and Over 2.5 Goals Total at 4/5. It is certainly worth noting that this bet would have won in 70% of their last ten Premier League matches.