Anfield on Sunday, and the numbers are ugly
Manchester City have won four Anfield matches in 70 years. Four. You go there on Sunday (1). Liverpool's ground has been the worst away day in English football for this club for the better part of a century, and the last five results do not change that history (1).
City sit top of the Premier League on 15 points from five games, goal difference +8, five wins from five (1). None of that has ever mattered at Anfield.
The verdict makes the reception worse
City were found guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules, and Anfield is expected to welcome them with a hostile reception (2) (7).
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Liverpool fans have been warned about their own reaction to it. The message from the away end after the verdict: "We'll show you" (2).
Paul Ince wants City punished over the breaches. The former Liverpool captain called the situation "amazing" (4).
Maresca: the players do not care about the noise
Enzo Maresca is not interested in the off-field story. "The noise is there but they don't care about the noise," he said (5).
His own words on the mood in the camp: "The feeling is fantastic, to be honest. The players are excited about the next two games. Especially because we are currently at the top of the league. The players are just focusing on that" (5).
He also knows the stakes. "I know that if I don't win it will be a disaster" (3).
Maresca one win from matching Guardiola
Five league wins from five. A sixth at Anfield on Sunday equals the best start Pep Guardiola ever made at City, the six straight wins he put together in 2017 and 2024 (3).
Maresca takes that record to the ground where it is hardest to get.
No Klopp, no Guardiola, same fixture
Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are both gone from this rivalry, and Sunday's game is the first version of it without either of them (6).
For years it was the classic of English football. The two men on the touchline now are different. The fixture has not changed.
City tracking 15-year-old JJ Gabriel
City are one of the clubs watching JJ Gabriel, the 15-year-old English midfielder, along with Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid (8).
PSG have accelerated talks and want to convince him to join as early as this winter, with Luis Campos, Luis Enrique and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi involved in the push (8).
Fan reactions
City's guilty verdict has pulled in opinions from well beyond Anfield. One of the threads doing the rounds right now is Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway saying he would "throw out" Manchester City (r/soccer). The mood among neutrals is punishment talk, not football talk, and that is the tone your team walks into on Sunday.
