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Paul Merson expects Liverpool to run riot against Manchester City as the two sides face off at the Etihad Stadium, playing catch-up to Arsenal in the title race.
Arne Slot's men won 2-0 in the same fixture last season and Merson is anticipating even more goals this time around. Liverpool has already beaten Aston Villa and Real Madrid this week, with a substantial upturn in form.
"Virgil van Dijk will be up against Erling Haaland and I think he will win that battle against the City striker," Merson predicted. "If you look at individual center-backs, Van Dijk is the Rolls-Royce and I believe he can handle Haaland.
"If Conor Bradley had Vinicius Jr in his back pocket, he won't be worried about facing Jeremy Doku or Savinho either. Liverpool will also have too much for City to handle when they go forward.
"I don't think City are great defensively. Even in that win over Bournemouth, they were far from convincing at the back. Don't get me wrong, City are bang in form, but they are just not the team they were three or four years ago.
"Liverpool have found some confidence now. Arne Slot has also gone back to his best full-back pairing and midfield combination.
"When you have Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai as your three in midfield against City, you have got to be the favorites."
Merson is predicting a 3-1 win for Liverpool over Pep Guardiola's men, and he thinks Florian Wirtz might be set to star after he played well midweek in the Champions League.
"If Liverpool finish the weekend 10 points behind Arsenal, I don't care who you are and what you've got, you are not catching them in the title race," Merson wrote for Sportskeeda.
"If Liverpool lose this game, they are out of the title race. So basically, this is their biggest game of the season. If you buy a player for £115 million or around that mark, you have to play him in your biggest match.
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"Whether he is firing or not, he has to be there. You brought him in for these games and to beat City, you need someone that can pick the right pass. Florian Wirtz is that type of player.
"When you're a Liverpool player, you aren't going to get too many games where the opposition will have a go at you. But this game will be different.
"City will try to take the game to Liverpool and that could open up space for Wirtz to be his best self. We saw that against Real Madrid and that is why he should be in the starting XI ahead of Cody Gakpo."
Liverpool.com says: Wirtz is likely to start, and any kind of win for the Reds would be huge. The gap to Arsenal cannot be allowed to get too big, and you have to assume that the Gunners will beat Sunderland on Saturday.
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