Liverpool v Manchester City: Premier League – live! | Football

45 mins: Bravo stops another one! This time it was Salah’s curler from 20 yards, which was neither powerful enough nor precise enough to sneak into the corner.

43 mins: Incidentally we have now been shown a still from the build-up to the Salah goal with the requisite offside-demonstrating blue line, and it’s all good.

42 mins: Aguero is played into the left side of Liverpool’s penalty area, but his shot zips across goal and wide.

40 mins: Salah is released down the right an tries to skip inside Fernandinho, who takes the ball with a clean sliding challenge. But the Egyptian goes down hurt, and the physio is looking at his foot/ankle area again.

38 mins: Bravo saves a shot! It’s Firmino’s effort, stuck left-footed straight at him. Alexander-Arnold created the opportunity, after producing a touch to control Alisson’s clearance that was so beautiful I want to frame it and hang it in my bedroom so it’s the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and reminds me of beauty, poetry and the potential of humankind.

35 mins: Liverpool attack again. Salah runs free on the left this time; his cross towards Wijnaldum is headed to Firmino, who jinks into the area and then shoots high.

34 mins: They win a corner. Robertson takes, and Lovren glances it across goal and wide.

29 mins: City hit the post! It’s Angelino, who bumbles through the area and has a rubbish shot, which deflects off Van Dijk’s shin and becomes much better, but still doesn’t go in. Corner.

“Have we had one of those VAR photos yet with zig zag lines confirming Salah onside for the second goal?” wonders Adam. We have not, just a rushed freeze-frame in which Salah looked suspiciously offside-ish to me. I’m sure he was actually onside though, because the only alternative is that everything is broken and rotten and ruined.

27 mins: City’s defence is bearing gifts. They half-clear the ball straight to Salah, standing all alone on the edge of the area, but then he passes to Firmino and the ball is nicked away.

25 mins: Save! Aguero does some fine work to not only keep the ball in a crowded area but somehow fashion space for a shot, but it’s all for nought because Alisson saves it.

23 mins: Fabinho trips Gundogan, and somehow gets away without a booking. Just so City fans know where to direct their hate mail, the VAR today is Paul Tierney, with the assistant VAR Constantine Hatzidakis. Also, don’t send hate mail. Play nice.

18 mins: Liverpool pass the ball around their defence for a while. “Whether the handball should have led to a penalty or not, if I were a City fan, I’d be furious with Agüero,” says Matt Dony. “Play to the whistle. Always play to the whistle. The ball fell almost to his feet, but he was too busy screaming at the ref and and allowed Van Dijk to simply step away from him. Basics. Inexcusable.”

16 mins: The penalty call continues to cause controversy. “This is a distinctly uncharitable theory, but could this last VARce be down to an unwillingness to rule out such a truly stonking hit to call a penalty at the other end?” wonders Matt Richman. “You would fear for Michael Oliver if that was the case.” The way the ball struck Alexander-Arnold was extremely penaltyesque, but I just don’t think you can win a penalty by punching the ball into a defender’s arm, however accidental the attacker’s punch might have been.

14 mins: He was onside! Liverpool are two goals up, and City are attacking beautifully but not defending at all.

They’ve only gone and stolen a second! Robertson’s cross is a beauty, and it bounces to Salah, who heads it in! But was he onside?

11 mins: Bernardo Silva gets another cheap free-kick, just outside Liverpool’s penalty area. This time Aguero nearly gets a touch at the near post, Stones nearly gets one at the far post, but the ball bounces out for a goal kick. City are owning this match, but not the scoreline.

9 mins: Then City win a free-kick on the left – Alexander-Arnold again – from which Sterling heads wide from the corner of the six-yard box!

8 mins: The ball bounced into Alexander-Arnold’s arm off Bernardo Silva’s arm. In those particular circumstances, the two handballs cancel each other out and the referee has to play on. I think that’s right, no?

7 mins: There’s the inevitable VAR delay as the handball decision is checked, but the goal stands!

6 mins: City think they should have had a penalty for handball, after the ball flicked off Alexander-Arnold’s thigh and into his arm. The referee waves play on and Liverpool raid down the left. Mane’s low cross is poked clear, but Fabinho runs onto it, takes a touch and blasts it inside the post from 25 yards!

Cowabunga! They’ve had a kick now, sure enough!

5 mins: Stone heads the corner on, but it goes wide. Liverpool really need to keep the ball for 30 seconds ago and hope they start purring.

4 mins: Now the visitors go down the right again, where Bernardo Silva goes shopping at the foulmart and buys a free kick from Robertson. It’s cleared, but City have a corner.

3 mins: City go down the left this time, where Sterling fouls Alexander-Arnold. Liverpool have literally not kicked the ball yet, so here’s there chance.

2 mins: The entire game so far has been played in the far right corner, as City attack. They pumped the ball up there from kick-off and Liverpool haven’t been able to get rid of it. City now have a corner.

All preambles and precursors have been completed. Prepare for kick-off, because it’s coming.

“Watching NBC buildup which consists entirely of adverts,” writes Ian Copestake, as Anfield prepares for a minute’s silence. “So far I have bought a pick-up truck and a year’s supply of skin cleanser.”

And they’re out! What’s more, hands have been shaken, and anthems are being sung. There will presumably be some kind of Remembrance Sunday ceremony pre-match, so that’s still to come.

The players are in the tunnel! Kick-off is approaching at breakneck speed. “I’m in Stansted airport,” says Alan McSherry. “I’m finding it hard to accept there’s no place to watch this match airside? Is it true? If the Guardian says it, I’ll know it’s true.” Thanks for your faith, Alan, but sadly I have no idea whatsoever. I once watched a match at Frankfurt airport, if that helps. Anyone?

Jurgen Klopp talks with Sky:

We’ve played them so often, and it’s always so difficult. But the key moments are, all chances we create we should score with, that would help massively. They will have their moments, 100%. Make sure we start good, stay good and finish good.

And so does Virgil van Dijk:

Well, it’s pretty clear it’s a massive game for both teams. We’re all looking forward to it. We just have to go out there, enjoy it, give everything we’ve got and have no regrets after.

“I didn’t survive heart surgery this week to watch a damn draw,” writes Hubert O’Hearn. “I feel amazingly, serenely confident in this match. Every intangible points to Liverpool and Pep is doing his thing (thanks Pep!) of sending out a scrambled line-up. Reds have this. Easily.” Admirable confidence there. And congratulations on the survival business.

Mo Salah called for the physio during the pre-match warm-up, to deal with some kind of foot-related issue. I’ve heard nothing of a team change, so he is presumably fine:

Pep Guardiola has a chat with Sky. He reveals that Rodri is in the team because he seemed fine in training (like, obviously), and that David Silva is on the bench because they didn’t want to put both of them straight into the starting line-up after injury for such a significant game:

Our plan? Try to win the game. Run when you don’t have the ball and play when you have the ball. We’ll try to do that. They’re so strong. We know it. I’ve said many times, after winning back to back Premier Leagues we needed to be pushed as well. They are going to help us for the next two, three, four years, help this club understand the level you have to achieve to be up there as long as possible.

“Surely this fixture can never live up to the hype but if it does … gawd it would be beautiful,” writes Mary Waltz. Here’s hoping!

Here’s the PA Media take on the line-ups:

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp went with his tried-and-tested big-game line-up for the visit of Manchester City.

That meant four changes from the Champions League win over Genk with Andy Robertson returning at left-back, Jordan Henderson coming back into midfield and Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane rejoining the forward line.

City made six changes as Claudio Bravo started in goal for the injured Ederson with three of the back four from Wednesday’s Champions League draw against Atalanta altered.

John Stones was picked to partner Fernandinho in the centre of defence with Kyle Walker and Angelino, who was making only his second Premier League start. Rodrigo came into midfield with Sergio Aguero preferred up front to Gabriel Jesus.

Andy Hunter had a chat with Alisson this week. Here’s his interview:

Last season we had a great experience, an almost perfect season. We lost one game and that one game was against City. We know how big this game is for us. We know how big the game is for everyone – for them and for our fans. In the end it is just three more important points but Manchester City have been the best team in the league for the last few years so we need to give everything to win this game. We don’t want to feel how we felt last season. Being second by just one point means we know that we need to give everything in every game if we want to become Premier League champions. We want it and we will try to do it.

Much more here:

So Ederson, as advertised, is missing and Claudio Bravo starts in his place behind a back four of Walker-Stones-Fernandinho-Angelino. Otherwise the teams look entirely surprise-free.

The team news is in, and here are this afternoon’s protagonists:

Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Milner, Keita, Gomez, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Origi.
Man City: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Jose Angelino, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Gabriel Jesus, Silva, Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Otamendi, Carson, Foden.
Referee: Michael Oliver.

And here are Pep Guardiola’s:

I’ve never gone into a game feeling like an outsider or an underdog, thinking I am not going to win. I am not going to take the bus to Liverpool thinking I am going to lose the game. That has never happened in my career. Always I try to believe that, if we do the special things we plan to do, we will have our chance to win.

Much more here:

Here are Barney Ronay’s pre-match thoughts:

There is also something different in the texture of this injury-depleted City team. Guardiola loves midfielders, wants to turn the entire world a shade of midfielder, would ideally simply substitute the word “midfielder” for the word footballer. Three months into the season this team has gone Full Midfielder. Seven City midfielders have scored a league goal. Eight City midfielders have started five league games or more, compared with three career defenders.

Much more here:

I have a lot of pre-match reading for you. Honestly, tell everyone in the room to go away for an hour or so, because you’re going to be too busy staring at your phone/tablet/other device to interact in any meaningful way. First off: Mane-Firmino-Salah or Sterling-Aguero-whoever? That is the question:

Hello world!

And welcome to the first leg of this season’s Premier League title play-off! Both teams will I’m sure be looking forward to a bit of genuine competition, away from the 36 mildly glorified irritant friendlies which occupy the majority of their domestic attentions. Whoever wins this one will carry an advantage into the second leg, scheduled for the weekend of 4 April, though the nine-point deficit City will be lumbered with should they lose, coupled with Liverpool’s ongoing refusal to be beaten by anyone under any circumstances, might make that one immaterial.

While we wait for the teams here’s a little trip down memory lane, at previous matches between these teams at Anfield since Pep Guardiola joined Jürgen Klopp in England:

Last year’s league game ended goalless, thanks to Riyad Mahrez’s late penalty miss:

The teams played at Anfield twice in 2017-18, with the first one ending City’s run of 30 undefeated league games:

And the second going a long way to ending their Champions League chances (it was the first leg, but nobody gives away a 3-0 first-leg advantage, except Barcelona obviously):

And finally, on New Year’s Eve 2016, Liverpool’s win gave them renewed hope of catching the division’s runaway leaders, Chelsea:

And if that’s not enough, have a bit of this: