Hosting Liverpool, Manchester City's Pride at Stake

MANCHESTER, SATURDAY — Manchester City is no longer in a position to defend their English Premier League title, but they still do not want to lose to Liverpool in the duel at Etihad Stadium on Sunday (23/2/2025) at 11:30 PM WIB. "The Citizens" can at least maintain their unbeaten record against Liverpool in the league over the past decade for the sake of pride.

Since Pep Guardiola took charge of City, Liverpool has never won at Etihad. In eight direct encounters between Guardiola and former Liverpool Manager Juergen Klopp, City has only failed to secure full points three times as the matches ended in draws.

So, only a positive record against Liverpool at the Etihad can be a consolation for The Citizens in the midst of a season full of fluctuations. In the competition for the rest of the 2024-2025 season, City will only compete to maintain the top four zone.

The most realistic position to finish the season is third. City are already powerless to challenge Arsenal in second place, let alone catch up to Liverpool who are 17 points behind at the top of the standings.

"The game will be different, the strength of the enemy is at a different level. We will try and be focused during the game. Our goal is to qualify for the Champions League next season," Guardiola said in a press conference ahead of the match against Liverpool, Friday (21/2/2025), as reported by the club's website.

After 25 games, City are enduring a campaign that Guardiola never imagined would happen under him. Their collective record of 13 defeats in all competitions this season is already the most negative results in a single season in the Spanish tactician's coaching career.

In addition, City also collected the lowest points average in the Guardiola era. The Citizens' worst position under Guardiola's constraints was created in his first season, 2016-2017.

At that time, City accumulated 78 points from 38 games, placing them in third position. City's average points collection was 2.05 points per match.

Meanwhile, this season, City has only managed 1.76 games per match. If that average does not increase in the remaining 13 Premier League games, then City can collect a maximum of 67 points by the end of this season.

That means a 27-point drop compared to City's final points collection when they won the Premier League trophy last season. For Guardiola, the worst team he coached was the 2016-2017 City referring to the final points. So, that bad record has the potential to be renewed in May.

In addition to the points issue, City also experienced a drastic decline in productivity. Having only scored 52 goals from 25 games, Erling Haaland and his friends can only produce 2.08 goals per game.

With that goal average, City has the chance to finish the season with under 80 goals. In fact, since becoming champions for the first time in the Guardiola era in 2017-2018, City has scored at least 83 goals.

City's goals average this season has plummeted compared to Guardiola's previous eight seasons with 2.48 goals per game.

City's front line is in doubt ahead of welcoming Liverpool. Haaland is injured, so he did not play in the second game against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu Stadium, Thursday (20/2/2025) yesterday. Guardiola also did not play creative midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne, due to tactical considerations. This condition is certainly very doubtful for City's performance against Liverpool.

Not only is the attacking sector getting worse, City is also performing poorly in defense. The record of 1.4 goals conceded per game shows City's worst conceding record in the Guardiola era, even since the 2007-2008 season before big money from the Middle East came into City.

"We actually played well. When we lost 1-5 against Arsenal, we played well. But we only played for 60 minutes. In the rest of the game we were not consistent," said Guardiola regarding his team's poor performance this season.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot is determined to end Liverpool's decade-long "curse" at the Etihad. The last time the Reds brought home three points from City's home ground in the Premier League was during Klopp's first visit as manager in the 2015-2016 season.

With the advantage of this season's performance, Liverpool has a greater chance of beating City. If they are able to win, it will be the third record of Liverpool beating City in two duels in one competition season. The collection of positive results was experienced by Liverpool in the 2005-2006 and 2015-2016 seasons.

Although City are not at their best in the Guardiola era, Slot insists his team will not find it easy to pick up full points. According to Slot, City have shown they have improved after bringing in four new players in the winter transfer window.

"I have witnessed their best strength gradually returning. They remain an extraordinary team, just like in the previous Guardiola eras. We must be prepared to suffer and work extra hard to bring home a positive result," said Slot as quoted by BBC.

Liverpool is determined to break their negative record in away matches this February. In four games outside Anfield Stadium, the Reds only secured a victory when they faced Bournemouth on February 1. The next three away games ended without a win.

Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup by Plymouth Argyle, then held to identical 2-2 draws at Everton and Aston Villa.