Liverpool vs Man City predicted team: No mercy for embarrassed Pep

Liverpool play Manchester City on Thursday, this is our predicted team.

Jurgen Klopp has embarrassed Pep Guardiola by winning the league so early in the season, and now City will be forced to give Liverpool a guard of honour.

Danny Murphy might hate the idea and alienated a lot of fans with his comments this week, but the Reds deserve it.

Klopp has lead the best team by a country mile and going to the Etihad as champions is vindication of that. But how will he pick the team for this game?

The German is incredibly driven and won’t want to give up three points to Guardiola. There will be a temptation to throw in the kids and let Harvey Elliott or Neco Williams have a taste of the big time, but that’s short sighted.

Liverpool still need to win this game – there are records at stake here. Plus, beating City is always good for moral and it helps to put another stamp of authority over the league.

Klopp’s men will be a little fresher than Pep’s. They played in the FA Cup quarterfinal against Newcastle United and will now have to go again this week, whereas Liverpool haven’t featured since the Crystal Palace win last week.

The Reds have since returned to training and will be ready to go on Thursday. There’s no way Klopp will let anyone go into the match without being prepared to win.

Let’s kick things off with the first name on the teamsheet.

Alisson

The Brazilian was surplus to requirements against Palace as the Eagles failed to register a single touch in his box during the 90 minutes.

Alisson will need to be ready for action against City as their wealth of attacking talent will definitely cause him more trouble this week.