Honestly, this is a tricky match of the English Premier League. Manchester City is going on their "flop" form where they can hardly score goals and starting drawing and losing in the game that they are dominant over their opponent. The game that they drew with West Brom and the game when Sunderland scored the last-minute 'offside' goal against Man City on Sunday has shown that there are something that needs to be lecture with Mancini's men. While Liverpool, they didn't seem to dominated most of the previous games, but the 3-1 victory over NewCastle on Friday should bring back the confidence for Dalglish's squad.
Back in times around October, if the two were to face in the Etihad Stadium, there would be no doubt that Man City is likely the favorite over Liverpool. But during the Premier League games-marathon in the New Year times has change a lot of things for many big teams. For Man City's last game, I think the problem was their lack of 'accurate' finish. Edin Dzeko didn't perform his superb form like the beginning of the season while Sergio Aguero didn't really get much chances to grab the ball and shoot. I don't know if Mancini will actually play other forward such as Mario Ballotelli instead of Dzeko tonight, but the problem on finishing have to be fix as soon as possible.
This will like being a tight game since both teams will be looking for a win. If Man City wins, they will be in 3 points lead in front of Manchester United in the race to be the league champion. If Liverpool wins, they will gain higher chance on being in the top 4 teams. I expected this match to be a rather "boring" one which much of defense and counters. However, since they are playing at the Etihad, I doubt that Man City will have a hard time, but the pressure are on the team too. This might end up as Man City wins but probably win like a goal, the worst case should be a draw.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool
After Match
To put the description of the 90 minutes game into a short phrase; Manchester City dominated the game. They performed brilliantly for the entire game and seemed to improve from previous matches where they struggled. Liverpool, no surprisingly, performed pretty poor when facing Man City. Downing and Adam seemed to have the most role in the first half. The two teams played out very well until Aguero's first goal. The goal put Liverpool into pressure that eventually Liverpool were defeated in a "City's Game". Although Liverpool made more shots but they weren't accurate enough to beat Joe Hart.
The game showed that Manchester City is still a better team than Liverpool by levels and they are still strong and always ready to grab the Premier League trophy. Anyway, Manchester City and Liverpool will play each other again in a 2-legged Carling Cup semi-final on Jan 12th (Etihad) and Jan 26th (Anfield.)
Final Score: Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool
Goalscorer:
Manchester City
Sergio Aguero 10' (David Silva Assisted)
Yaya Toure 33' (David Silva Assisted)
James Milner 75' (Penalty)
Liverpool
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