Former Liverpool star John Barnes has backed Jurgen Klopp's side to prevent Manchester City striker Erling Haaland from scoring when the two sides meet on Sunday afternoon.
City travel to Anfield to face off against Liverpool in the Premier League, with Pep Guardiola's men currently 13 points ahead of the Merseyside club in the table. Klopp's side have endured a difficult start to the new season and have recorded just two victories from their opening eight top-flight matches.
Meanwhile, the Blues have been in impressive form all season and find themselves just one point behind current league-leaders Arsenal. The reigning champions have scored 33 goals already, thanks mainly to the scintillating form of Norwegian frontman Haaland.
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Haaland, who arrived at the Etihad from Borussia Dortmund in the summer transfer window, has registered 20 goals and three assists in 13 matches in all competitions this term, which has included three hat-tricks in the Premier League.
While the 22-year-old is on course to break several records this campaign, he failed to find the back of the net against Liverpool in the Community Shield in July. Despite Klopp's side's underwhelming start to the season, Barnes has backed his former team to keep Haaland quiet on Sunday, suggesting that Virgil van Dijk will be key if they are to do so.
"Who knows. He might score, he might not. Haaland is a very dangerous player but Van Dijk is a fantastic player. If I went to the bookies and had to put my house on it then I'd say no. Liverpool need to defend much better than they have," Barnes told BonusCodeBets.
Barnes, who played over 300 times for Liverpool, also lauded Klopp and Guardiola ahead of the important clash at the weekend, claiming that there is 'nothing' between the two managers.
He added: "Klopp and Guardiola are both fantastic managers. Guardiola’s got the better team, so who's the better manager? They are both fantastic managers who have one of the Champions League, Premier League and the cups so there's nothing between them."
City and Liverpool drew 2-2 on two occasions in the Premier League last season, however, Liverpool did overcome Guardiola's side to progress to the FA Cup final.
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