Man City predicted line-up vs Liverpool as Erling Haaland and Marc Guehi return

Manchester City travel to Liverpool this afternoon knowing they need to beat them to keep themselves in the Premier League title race

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola will be hoping his side can complete the double over Liverpool this afternoon when they travel to Anfield in the Premier League. City were incredibly dominant in the reverse fixture back in November and were good value for their three points.

However, the centre-back partnership is likely to be different to the one which started last year. Ruben Dias has returned to training this week which is a major boost for the Blues, but with Abdukodir Khusanov a solid alternative to the Portuguese centre-back, Guardiola may well be in no rush to thrust Dias back into the first-team starting XI.

Joining Khusanov in the centre will most likely be Marc Guehi. Liverpool will be kicking themselves after they were unable to sign him last summer and went on to see him sign for City in January. The England international will provide some stability in the back four.

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Rodri, while fit, remains City's first port of call to sit in front of the defence and in a game as big as this one, Guardiola will be keen to have as many leaders as possible in the starting line-up. It is in the attacking midfield is where things could alter.

Jeremy Doku, who was chief tormentor for Liverpool back at the Etihad Stadium, is unavailable due to injury. Fortunately, City have a versatile winger who can play on the right and left in Antoine Semenyo. Playing the former Bournemouth star on the left could be a solid strategy considering Dominik Szoboszlai will more than likely be at right-back.

That is a major weakness for Liverpool which City will be hoping of exploiting. Bernardo Silva is a major doubt for the trip to Merseyside and, again, is not someone who Guardiola would choose to risk when he has other options.

Tijjani Reijnders was impressive against Newcastle United in midweek and did enough to earn himself a start this weekend. Phil Foden has not been at his best recently but could start.

Up front, Omar Marmoush impressed against Eddie Howe's side and could not have done more to force Guardiola to keep him in the starting line-up. But against Liverpool, we expect City to revert to the safe option of starting Erling Haaland.

Man City's predicted line-up vs Spurs: Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly; Rodri; Foden, Cherki, Reijnders, Semenyo; Haaland