2 weeks ago
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Plenty of eyes with be on the individual battles when Manchester City host Liverpool in a few weeks after a wild summer of spending
Manchester City host Liverpool in under a month in the Premier League and attention will naturally fall on the galaxy of stars on the field.
Erling Haaland commands the eye even when he isn’t on the sort of obscene goalscoring run he currently is, yet he will have competition when the champions arrive.
There were plenty of Newcastle fans who last season led the idea that Alexander Isak was in fact the best striker in the league; funnily enough they are all Team Haaland now. But those who still believe can see if Isak in the best team in the country can be more prolific (currently the score is 9-0 to Haaland).
Even more interesting will be Florian Wirtz. The German rejected City in summer to join Liverpool in what was seen to be a major coup for Arne Slot and his recruitment head Michael Edwards.
Wirtz has had a horrible start to life at Anfield though and there are no guarantees he will even start against City having failed to influence games and being left out of the team for the derby.
Blues would lap up any sidelining of Wirtz, especially if Rayan Cherki can get on the pitch. Cherki was a budget alternative while Liverpool broke the British transfer record for Wirtz (that they later broke again for Isak) and any hint that the Frenchman represents a better deal will be shouted loud.
More interesting than any of that though is how the collectives look. Last season was exasperating for Blues for months, and their complete failure to compete home or away with Liverpool was one of many sore points.
When a point at Arsenal last month meant City were eight off leaders Liverpool after just five games, the gap again looked to be a chasm. However, successive defeats for Slot’s men have coincided with two wins for City.
The momentum has changed, and Pep Guardiola go into the next block of fixtures with the belief that there is plenty more to come from them. Win their games against Everton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth and at the very least they can overtake Liverpool by beating them at the Etihad; some scenarios could be even better.
Having surprised many at Arsenal, including Mikel Arteta, Liverpool’s visit next month represents a serious test for City to assess how far they can go on all fronts this season.
The individual stars on the pitch may have a lot to do with the performance and the result, but Pep Guardiola will take more from the collective performance as he looks for City to wrestle the league title back from their Merseyside rivals.
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