Liverpool vs Man City: How Reds can end reigning champions’ title defence

Liverpool will be licking their lips in anticipation. Luck happened to them. The Premier League leaders face Manchester City in freefall this weekend on Super Sunday, with the chance to finally end their rivals' title defense for good. Christmas certainly came early.

Sunday will be as much about Man City's demise – should they lose – as it will be about Liverpool's likely pursuit of silverware this season, but as the old saying goes: 'You can only play what is in front of you.'

And what awaits Liverpool at Anfield is a side barely able to disarm Feyenoord, the fourth-placed team in the Eredivisie, let alone the Premier League leaders. It seems Man City have been stripped of their powers.

This meeting, at this particular point in the season, is almost coincidental for Arne Slot. Rarely, if ever, have conditions been more favorable. Slot's Liverpool have the potential to capitalize in the most profound of ways on Sunday and steal a march on Pep Guardiola in the Dutchman's first-ever management meeting.

How often do you get the chance to kick City when they are down? They're walking around hurt – after a six-game winless run, including five defeats – and if Liverpool capitalize as most expect, surely the title race is as good as over? The outlook is as polarizing as it has been for years.

“Liverpool did excellently and have every chance to win this title,” Roy Keane commented last weekend. “If they are at their best, with the fans behind them, and beat City, what a statement that would be. It would be over for City if they lose.”

Paul Merson's view: “The Premier League needs Man City to win on Sunday, otherwise Liverpool will spread the arena. They could run away with this league title very quickly.” Opta estimates Liverpool's chances of lifting the trophy in May at 74.8 percent.

And yet they have won just one of their last nine Premier League games against Man City. This match has not been a happy hunting ground in recent times and we had to travel back to October 2022 to dig up the last positive result – Mohamed Salah predictably scored the decider in a 1-0 win.

Few would be surprised if the same match winner emerges again this time. In addition to having the most goals and assists in the Premier League this season (16), Salah's goals were also worth a whopping 17 points in the league against Liverpool this season.

Putting the final nail in Manchester City's coffin could well be the sweetener for the Egyptian's lobbying for a new and improved deal – more on that later.

Positive omens abound. Only once (Manchester United in 1993/94) has a team had a bigger lead over its rivals than Liverpool now has after twelve games. Their score of 31 points can only be equaled or bettered ten times in the history of the Premier League. Eight of those clubs were crowned title winners.

It's hard to imagine a world in which Slot would allow complacency, even with such a significant difference of eight points, which could rise to eleven points. This is not a manager who neglects the fundamentals. He knows that nothing will be won this side of Christmas, even if hope could be lost altogether in the case of Manchester City.

Pragmatic Slot will have a plan for Sunday, and little of it will be based on the idea that the Merseyside visitors will simply roll over. A character like Slot feels the opportunity but also the risk.

He will want to win on purpose, because teams that leave things to chance against Man City – no matter how gloomy and long-legged they are – will be punished.

In 2022, when Salah orchestrated a fiery and pulsating encounter at Anfield – Jürgen Klopp was even sent off – it was goalkeeper Alisson who opened the match with a mundane punt on the pitch. What Salah did with that long kick was nothing short of sensational, but this was a game of frayed minds and fine margins. Without Alisson's quick thinking or Joao Cancelo's inability to defend, the match could easily have ended 0-0.

This time Slot wants control and calm heads. Liverpool are in a position to demand such standards. They are able to press this vulnerable Man City side at full tilt at both ends of the pitch, just as they taunted Champions League holders Real Madrid on Wednesday night to remain perfect in Europe.

Another test passed.

They say to be the best you have to beat the best. Real and England midfielder Jude Bellingham called Liverpool the “best performing team in Europe” at the moment. He's probably right. There's a fearsome mix of star power and firepower at the top, a clean and tidy midfielder who can pivot but also create, and a solid backline that rarely concedes goals. Vice goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher even denied Kylian Mbappé from the penalty spot on Wednesday.

Everything that can go well, goes well.

Perhaps the only lingering uncertainty concerns the extended play of Snog, Marry, Avoid Liverpool playing with their three best players. The contracts of Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Salah are all set to expire this summer, and talks over future deals appear to be going no further, with suggestions the club can only afford two of the three. Slot hopes that none of his valued trio will be lost, but ultimately the negotiations will fall out of his hands.

However, his influence on this Liverpool team's efficiency on the pitch is palpable. Their only Premier League defeat this season was a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest, having won seven of their eight games since then and scoring at least twice in all but one. The momentum is increasing. A fuse has blown.

And now chance comes to release the biggest statement of all. It would be something to cherish to follow up the defeat of the reigning European champions with a victory over the six-time (under Pep) Premier League champions, all within the space of four days. A keepsake to cherish.

Liverpool have their chance, they just have to take it.