Talking Tactics - Man City vs Liverpool: Whatever Sunday’s Outcome, Arsenal Win
In a match described as a heavyweight title eliminator, Manchester City and Liverpool face a pivotal clash in their quest for the Premier League title. Both teams sit behind a dominant Arsenal, who currently lead the race. City rely heavily on the scoring prowess of Erling Haaland, while Liverpool grapple with defensive vulnerabilities. With Liverpool striving to find their footing post-blip, and City overly reliant on Haaland, the match is expected to be a test of Arsenal's defense versus City's attack. A loss or draw could significantly impact either side's title aspirations.
- Man City and Liverpool face a crucial clash in title race.
- City heavily depend on top scorer Haaland's prowess.
- Liverpool must overcome defensive vulnerabilities.
If the Premier League was framed in boxing terminology, Sunday’s clash between Manchester City and Liverpool would likely be billed as a heavyweight title eliminator. Two fighters looking to earn a shot at glory, whoever hits the canvas sees their championship bid go up in smoke.
The Etihad serves as the ring; 22 world-class talents play the role of the pugilist. Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot in opposite corners barking instructions at three-minute intervals, nobody in the mood to throw in the towel.
Nobody will want to, but figuratively one or maybe even both City and the defending champions may have to. Defeat the worst outcome for one of these two sides, a draw would end up being the worst outcome for both contenders.
With Arsenal setting the pace and knocking out any opponent that is lined up in front of them, a win at Sunderland - which admittedly is not as easy as it may have looked when the fixtures were first printed, would place the Gunners nine and ten points clear of their respective rivals.
A margin already gargantuan in size, a margin that already has a hint of champions elect connected to it. If Sunday’s hosts win the latest chapter of this burgeoning North West rivalry, the margin of error goes back to six (on the assumption that Arsenal pick up another win).
A Numbers Game
City reel Arsenal in slightly but still two wins behind, their Merseyside counterparts left 10 points off the pace with a fifth league defeat in six games to their name. Reverse the winning side on Sunday and it is the Reds who are seven points further back, with the blue half of Manchester on nine.
Then again, even if Liverpool do win on Sunday, one wonders if even a seven-point head start for Arsenal is too much for Arne Slot to mastermind reeling in. They may have beaten the North London outfit at Anfield in August, they will need to go to the Emirates and do the same.
The return clash is one where Liverpool have to be in some form of position to be still considered as title hopefuls, failure to stay on Arsenal’s coattails by the start of next year and this upcoming fixture could be rather moot in terms of the season’s championship landscape.
All the numbers crunched, all the permutations set out before Sunday’s big clash and although it is unfair to truly overlook Sunderland’s role in the weekend’s events, the expectation must be that Mikel Arteta oversees a ninth league win in 11 attempts.
Arsenal’s top league scorer only has four goals before the weekend – Swedish international Viktor Gyokeres topping the club’s chart. Erling Haaland of Manchester City tops the league charts with three times that and an additional goal on top.
Thirteen goals in just 858 minutes of league football, a goal every 66 minutes. Responsible for 65% of all the goals that Manchester City have scored in this season’s edition of the Premier League. Perhaps an overreliance on one single player but when he is that good, why would you not?
To compound just how much reliance or too much reliance Pep Guardiola has on the Norwegian hitman, the next highest scorer for City in this season’s Premier League does not even play for the club.
Maxime Esteve put through his own net on two separate occasions in Burnley’s 5-1 away loss at Manchester City back in September, the only other player to have technically scored twice for the 2023 Champions League winners in the league this season.
Feeding The Machine
Some will look at these numbers and suggest that Haaland’s supporting cast need to step up to the plate. Others will say, the supply line is doing exactly what it is setup to do - get the ball to its talisman and watch him do the rest.
Which begs the question as to whether it will be City goal’s or Arsenal’s defence that is the key driver in any bid to lift the Premier League crown. Last Sunday’s win over Bournemouth suggests that the former of the two variables does have its flaws.
Tyler Adams first half equaliser for the Cherries certainly added an unexpected level of jeopardy to last weekend’s proceedings - albeit for just eight minutes as Haaland netted his second of the game to restore natural order and it highlighted that for all City’s attacking prowess, they can be got at.
Something that Liverpool will look to punish this weekend and although they have only scored two fewer league goals than their upcoming hosts, their defensive has been far too generous for any team defending league honours.
Fourteen goals shipped in their first 10 league encounters, an average of 1.4 per game. That in itself does not sound all that much but when you compare that figure to the 0.3 goals per game that Arsenal have conceded, they are giving up more than a goal per outing.
Ten of those 14 coming in the five game stretch between their 2-1 win derby win over Everton and their recent 3-2 reverse at Brentford. Whatever Liverpool were doing at the start of the season - after shipping two themselves to Bournemouth on the opening night, they are not doing anymore.
A top heavy squad with too many attacking toys too choose from, a defence that has gone through an element of transition and looks worse off because of it. Then again, those same issues were still good enough to get the better of Real Madrid in midweek.
A morale boosting win over Aston Villa a week ago, a hugely important win over the Spanish giants three days later. If this Liverpool side has had its first ever blip under new management, they might just be out the other side of it now.
Now though, those successive wins in league and Europe will count for nothing if they cannot make it three wins in a row in all competitions. Failure to do so and the celebrations will not only be felt by City’s home support but Arsenal fans watching at home.
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