Man City's unsung quality that can blunt Liverpool…

Man City's unsung quality that can blunt Liverpool attack and make history at Anfield

The latest chapter of one of the Premier League’s best recent rivalries will be written this weekend as Manchester City travel to Anfield to take on Liverpool.

Anfield has proven to be somewhat of a bogey ground in the Premier League era for the Blues, even within the Sheikh Mansour era at the club.

Pep Guardiola ’s men won the fixture 4-1 last season, and in doing so ended a run of 17 consecutive away league games without a win at Liverpool (D5, L12).

Getting that monkey off the back will surely add greater confidence to the team heading into this weekend’s battle, but the Merseysiders are certainly primed to provide a tough test.

Jurgen Klopp’s men are the only side still undefeated in the division, and their attack has been scintillating throughout the early weeks of the campaign.

They have accumulated more shots (140) at goal than any other team, and also attempted more shots on target (42) than any other side too.

The consequence of the same is they’ve scored a league-high 15 goals already - and 26 if you include cup and Champions League games.

Perhaps their most dangerous attacker across that run has been Mohamed Salah who has netted eight goals and registered a further two assists across his eight Liverpool appearances so far this season.

He’s consistently been a thorn in the side of City when they’ve visited Anfield, directly contributing to six goals in his five Anfield appearances against the Blues.

The 29-year-old has the added incentive this weekend of knowing he’s just two goals away from matching Didier Drogba’s record as the Premier League’s high-scoring African player, though the Liverpool man is on course to reach the 104-goal landmark in far fewer matches.

The above paints Liverpool as a daunting attacking prospect to face this weekend, yet the efficiency of City’s defence so far indicates they’ll have all the tools to stop the hosts.

Whilst City’s exquisite attacking play tends to steal most of the limelight, it’s the team’s robustness without the ball that’s undoubtedly been the most impressive facet of the season so far.

Guardiola’s men have conceded just one league goal. They’ve also faced just 36 shots, and only five of them were on target. This has resulted in an accumulated xGA of just 0.9.

Needless to say, this is the Premier League’s best in all three departments, but not only is it best in England’s top tier, but it’s also the top-ranking across all of Europe’s top five leagues.

Confidence should be high that City have enough to shut out Liverpool this weekend, and with the quality they have going forward, we could be looking at the champions being set to make a bit of history by securing consecutive league wins at Anfield for the first time since January 1953.