Liverpool Can Mangle Man City's Image at Anfield on Sunday

An inevitable and eternal force of nature may start to look like the end of something.

Pep Guardiola’s face was cut and reddened as he leaned in towards the microphone in cramped quarters for his post-match interview. The Spaniard was bloodied in a sporting sense, too, fresh off a sixth match without victory. The first five were defeats, and now his all-conquering Manchester City team had blown a 3-0 lead at the Etihad Stadium, collapsing in the final 15 minutes Tuesday night to somehow hand a point to Feyenoord in the Champions League.

It was the crescendo of an almost unreal sequence from the Citizens, something like the Death Star blowing a fuse, but here they were: 17th in the new-look European table, eight points off Liverpool at the top of the English league standings. It is the great crisis of Guardiola’s managerial career, enough to leave the man physically wounded. It says something about his greatness, then, that his team are still second in the Premier League.

They came back from eight points behind a couple of years ago to chase down Arsenal, and they did it in part by striking decisive blows against their title rivals in head-to-head encounters. Now, on Sunday, they head to Anfield and into a thoroughly uncomplicated scenario: they must win at the formidable home of their rivals. They must take three points and deny any to Arne Slot’s surprise package, a young and exciting team that—much like that Arsenal side of 2022-23—are possibly a year ahead of schedule.

Liverpool have more seasoned professionals in key positions than that Arsenal team, though, veterans of previous title contests with Guardiola’s outfit like Virgil Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson and Mo Salah. But they might also just have the legs that City’s team—looking increasingly agéd in recent weeks—may be lacking. Can the home side get to the spot a half-second quicker to win their duels and win the battle? Or can the Sky Blue machine grind back into gear at just the right moment to strike one of those trademark blows against a great enemy?

It should be a fascinating encounter on Merseyside, and even if Guardiola’s physical wounds are healed, he could be bloodied once again by the end. 11 points behind is no joke, even a third of the way through the season, but the greatest cost may be to City’s well-earned aura of invincibility. Even with Pep’s new contract—a signal of guaranteed continuity-of-service for the club’s downright spoiled fans—the wrong result here might suggest to the wider football world that rather than something inevitable and eternal, as they’ve so long seemed to be, the Citizens are coming to the end of something.

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The podcast is off this week because a guest booking fell through. The trials of the trade! We’ll hope to be back next week with something for your ears, but for now here’s more for your eyes…..

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MATCHES

SHEFFIELD UTD vs SUNDERLAND

Friday @ 3pm ET, 8pm UK

Here’s a Championship bout with promotion stakes, as second-place Sheffield United host fourth-place Sunderland. Incredibly, the latter have drawn five matches in a row to slide to their current position, while the Blades of Sheffield have won five of their last six and lost none as they seek a third promotion to the Premier League in six years. (The last time, they set the record for most goals conceded in a top-flight season.) Sunderland have been in the wilderness since 2017, but they might just feel like this is the year they return to the big time.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND vs BAYERN MUNICH

Saturday @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK

Dortmund have not made a great start to this season, at least domestically: They’re fourth in the new-look Champions League table, to be fair, but fifth in the Bundesliga. Still, this is Der Klassiker in front of the Yellow Wall at the Westfalenstadion, and Nuri Şahin’s outfit will have to find a way to stop the Bayern freight train. The Bavarians are six points clear after 11 matches, and Harry Kane has 14 goals already.

CHELSEA vs ASTON VILLA

Sunday @ 8:30am ET, 1:30pm UK

There were days when Unai Emery could do no wrong in Birmingham, but surely there are more questions from the Aston Villa faithful nowadays. They’re doing well enough in Europe, but the Villans have slipped to eighth in the Premier League with two draws and two losses in their last four. Chelsea look the most likely to capitalize and snatch away their Champions League ticket for next season, piecing together some decent form under Enzo Maresca and playing their way into third place. Still, the West Londoners are just three points ahead of Villa coming into this one. With a win here, Emery’s side could leapfrog them on goal difference.

FIORENTINA vs INTER

Sun @ 12pm ET, 5pm UK

The hosts here are the surprise package of the Serie A season, running a point behind leaders Napoli in a tightly packed Top Six. Inter are one of three clubs even with them on 28 points, and the Nerazzurri are simply one of the very best teams in Europe. They won this division with 19 points to spare last term, and they’ll be looking to signal normal service has resumed with a decisive away victory here. Each of these two teams has a forward on nine goals, tied for second in the league scoring charts: Marcus Thuram for Inter and Moise Kean for Fiorentina.

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READS

⚽︎ The U.K.’s football governance bill is continuing to develop in Parliament, The Times reports, with “Lord Bassam of Brighton” introducing an amendment to ban state ownership of English football clubs and (possibly) force out Newcastle and Man City’s ownership groups.

⚽︎ Manchester United’s decision to sack Erik ten Hag and buy Ruben Amorim out of his Sporting Lisbon contract to replace the Dutchman cost the club more than £21 million, The Telegraph tells us, and that has wider implications for the Red Devils’ plans.

⚽︎ Over in The Athletic, Tom Burrows explains why it’s Wycombe Wanderers—not Wrexham or Birmingham—who are the cream of the League One crop this season.

⚽︎ To mark their meeting with Man United at Old Trafford, Nick Ames traced the history of arctic Norwegian outfit Bodø/Glimt in The Guardian.

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GEAR

👕 OK, these Juventus thirds aren’t exactly new, but they wore them this week in the Champions League and they just absolutely slap.

👕 We can all get a bit queasy about Christmas sweaters, but ‘tis the season now that Thanksgiving is cooked and December is near. Classic Football Shirts has rolled out quite a collection.⚽︎