Allen Hamilton

What: English Premier League
Who: Liverpool (6th; 45 points) vs Manchester City (4th; 56 points)
When: Monday 11th April, 2011, at 20:00 UK time
Where: Anfield, Liverpool, England


Keeping the Faith for Fifth

Defeat last weekend against former manager Roy Hodgson’s West Brom was a serious blow to Liverpool’s slim chances of surging into fifth spot and ensuring Europa League football next season. Failure to finish in a European spot would mean no continental football at Anfield for the first time since 1999 and would, in the eyes of the watching world as a whole, represent a real slip back from the days of Champions League finals under Rafael Benitez.

The Reds also received a blow this week with the news that Steven Gerrard will be out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a groin injury. Were Kenny Dalglish’s side chasing a realistic Champions League spot, or even the Europa League trophy, could Gerrard have struggled on to aid the challenge? The club’s decision to operate could be a tacit recognition that, eight points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, Europe is gone.

But Dalglish will not give up and is aiming for a win against Manchester City, believing that there is just a chance Roberto Mancini’s side have their mind on other things.

"Manchester City are going for a Champions League spot and in a week’s time they have an FA Cup final against Manchester United", said the Liverpool boss. "I am sure they will have half an eye on the cup tie because it is a massive game for them."


Champions League Battles

Despite sitting in the Champions League spots for virtually the entire season, Manchester City could still find themselves dumped out at the last minute. Following Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Stoke on Saturday, Harry Redknapp’s side are just three points behind the Eastlands outfit; with seven games to play that gap is entirely surmountable. Even finishing in fourth, with Chelsea having overtaken City and moved up to third, creates its own set of potential problems, with a qualifying tie to reach the Champions League group stages.

However, City arrive at Anfield in good form following a 5-0 thrashing of Sunderland and, according to Mancini, the club’s exit from the Europa League at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv has had its benefits.

"The players are looking fresher", said the Italian. "We had problems when we played every three days. Now most of the players are available and that is important."

Mancini knows too the vital nature of the trip to Liverpool, commenting: "It is important to win in Anfield because of the Champions League, and if we want to try to get third position or second position it’s important to try to win in Anfield. But if we want to win we should play well, like against Sunderland."

 


Recent form

Liverpool:
Liverpool 0-0 Braga
(17/03; Europa League)
Sunderland 0-2 Liverpool
(20/03; Premier League)
West Brom 2-1 Liverpool
(02/04; Premier League)

Manchester City:
Manchester City 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv (17/03; Europa League)
Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City (20/03; Premier League)
Manchester City 5-0 Sunderland (03/04; Premier League)

Key absences

Liverpool: Steven Gerrard; Daniel Agger; Glen Johnson; Martin Kelly; Fabio Aurelio (doubt); Jonjo Shelvey (doubt)

Manchester City: Jerome Boateng; Shay Given; Micah Richards; Kolo Toure (suspended)

Players to watch

Liverpool – Andy Carroll: The former Newcastle forward looked desperately out of sorts against West Brom last weekend and badly needs to score his first goal for Liverpool. Carroll will have seen the pressure building on the man who made his move to Anfield possible – Fernando Torres – as he has failed to score in ten games for Chelsea. Against City, Carroll might just open his account.

Manchester City – Mario Balotelli: Balotelli looked to be enjoying himself in the 5-0 romp over Sunderland, despite failing to find the back of the net. The Italian drifted past Sunderland defenders with ease on many occasions and looks to be well on the way to becoming a world-class striker. Not without his share of problems at Eastlands, if Balotelli can concentrate on the football then he is a danger.

Match Prediction

Publicly Liverpool are still aiming for Europe and their chance has not completely gone, however performances of the ilk of at The Hawthornes against West Brom, combined with Tottenham Hotspur still ticking along nicely make an eight-point gap hard to bridge; the loss of Gerrard too is a blow. City may have an eye on their FA Cup semi-final, but the Champions League remains more important and going forward they are impressive. Add in Liverpool’s full back problems with Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly both injured, and a difficult day could be had by the Reds. Liverpool 0-2 Manchester City.

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