What happens when the best team in the world travels to the toughest ground in English football?
That is what we will discover on Sunday, with Pep Guardiola taking his in-form Manchester City side to Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in the Premier League. On Monday, City were the clear favourites, sitting second in the table and yet to be beaten, with Erling Haaland scoring goals for fun.
Liverpool had just lost to Arsenal to slip to 10th in the table, picking up three more costly injuries, and Klopp was using his press conferences to query the standard of the questions put to him rather than answer them. Then, both sides were on their travels in the Champions League, with the collective 180 minutes that followed drawing them closer together in terms of form ahead of Sunday's showdown.
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City rested some important bodies in Copenhagen, Haaland included, but were held to a frustrating draw that wasn't helped by Sergio Gomez's red card that left his teammates playing against 11 men for an hour. Any plans to use the five substitutes permitted to rotate the likes of Joao Cancelo, Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri were shelved, and it was a slight bump in the road for City before a game their manager described as the 'toughest test in English football.'
Still, at least Liverpool had half a squad missing through injury and were shot for confidence.
At least, they were until the second half at Ibrox, when Rangers capitulated and Klopp's men took full advantage in devastating fashion. The last thing Rangers will have wanted to see after falling 3-1 behind was Mo Salah coming on, and within 13 minutes of his introduction it was six, Salah scoring a remarkable six-minute hat-trick that showcased all of his best, most dangerous qualities.
Add two more goals for the surprisingly-prolific Roberto Firmino, a useful strike for Darwin Nunez and a popular Harvey Elliott cherry on the top of the cake, and Klopp was able to abandon his grumpy-dad persona in his post-match press conference, declaring that their dressing room mood had 'completely changed'.
"That is good but we all know who we are welcoming on Sunday and this will be a different game," he said. "But it’s better to go into the game feeling like we do tonight! We will see, I am always ready for a change in the right direction, but we will see.
"We don’t have to make a big thing of it but the best football team in the world right now is coming to Anfield on Sunday. We will see what we can do. It’s not that we come with a big mouth and say: “we are waiting!” – not at all."
So while Klopp stopped short of declaring Liverpool back in the title race, or even as favourites against City, he will be far more confident of getting a result with the rhythm back in his forwards and some momentum with his side for the first time this season. Salah's cameo, in particular, had shades of his best, most influential performances against City in the past.
None of that will come as a surprise to Guardiola, who may have raised eyebrows with his 'toughest test' comment about going to Anfield given the contrasting form of both sides. Yet, he's always known that regardless of injuries and form, Liverpool have plenty of world-class players to beat his side, as they hinted towards at Ibrox. He will also be well aware of City's record of one win since 2003 at Anfield.
City will still be favourites for Sunday's showdown, but the midweek results have surely lengthened their odds against a Liverpool side with some wind back in their sails and a point to prove.
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