Liverpool meet Man City at a pivotal moment
The game of the weekend is at Anfield between Liverpool and Manchester City; sixth plays seventh and both have their eye on finishing above that dreaded dashed line that separates the Champions' League and the Europa League. After an international break there are bound to be unreported injuries and recoveries - so take any team news with a pinch of salt.
Liverpool and Manchester City are now closely matched teams, the vast influx of money to the Manchester team now means that a combined XI from the two clubs is now pretty evenly mixed. A couple of years ago it would probably have consisted of 10 Liverpool players and a token City one - which shows you how far City have come.
Liverpool have a number of injury worries (to be fair so do a lot of Premier League sides) and the likely absence of Torres has to be balanced by the likely availability of Gerrard and Aquilani. But doubts remain over Benayoun and Riera, suggesting that there could be a lack of thrust on the left flank. Does Gerrard + Aquilani = Torres?
City have the finances to finish fourth this season if one of the 'big four' has an off-season; with Villa and Spurs also more than capable. Although Liverpool looks the most vulnerable right now that is no guarantee that they will stay weak throughout the season. If Arsenal, Man United or Chelsea went through a one-win-in-nine sequence of results then they would suddenly be dumped out of the top four (and Chelsea could well be considering the manager's position). So this is a huge game for City who may never get a more obvious way to destabilize the elite.
City are experiencing growing pains, with doubts over just how motivated Robinho and Tevez are at the moment. Robinho looks especially unsettled. It is true that this type and quality of players would be essential in any Champions' League campaign - but it is also true that different players may be more effective in actually getting enough grinding away wins to qualify for the tournament in any event. Right now I would pick Craig Bellamy ahead of Robinho (if both were fit) - but I wouldn't if City were playing, say, Real Madrid.
If City can win this one then the players will have the confidence to believe that they can get over 70 points this season; for Liverpool this is a chance to deal a blow to a top-four pretender. This is a pivotal game in the season.
Liverpool vs Manchester City; Kick Off 12:45pm 21 Nov 2009
Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).
Dave Blackburn : 2 - 0
Chris Cox : TBC
Graham Enwright : 3 - 1
Sue Gardener : TBC
Chris Goodwin : 1 - 2
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 1 - 2
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : TBC
Peter Lee : TBC
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 2 - 1
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : 3 - 2
Dave Nash : 2 - 2
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 2 - 1
Peter Rendle : 2 - 1
Dan Taylor : 2 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 1 - 3
Isaac Williams : TBC
Mark Williams : TBC
Panel Verdict
The panel is split, but a majority currently favour a 2-1 Liverpool win.
Home: 7; Draw: 2; Away: 3; TBC: 8.
* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!
