Manchester City v Liverpool: Premier League betting preview, free tip & TV

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Manchester City v Liverpool in the Premier League on Thursday.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Premier League & Main Event, 8.15pm Thursday

Best bet

Liverpool draw no bet
1pt 6-4 Betfred

Team news

Manchester City
Sergio Aguero misses out after knee surgery and Fernandinho is suspended. Leroy Sane will not feature again for City after agreeing a transfer to Bayern Munich. Eric Garcia (head) is a doubt.

Liverpool
James Milner (hamstring) is doubtful but Xherdan Shaqiri has returned to training. Defender Joel Matip will miss the rest of the season with a foot injury.

Match preview

Liverpool romped to their first league title in 30 years with seven games to spare but Jurgen Klopp's champions are unlikely to treat their trip to Manchester City as a meaningless contest.

City's 2-1 defeat at Chelsea last week left Liverpool with an unassailable 23-point lead at the top of the Premier League and the rampant Reds have truly been in a league of their own this season.

It is a far cry from the fine margins of the 2018-19 title race when the Citizens pipped Liverpool by one point and the defining image of the season was John Stones's remarkable clearance off the line in City's 2-1 home victory over the Reds.

Before that win in January 2019, City had beaten Liverpool only once in their previous 11 meetings in all competitions, a 5-0 rout in September 2017 when Sadio Mane was sent off in the first half.

Mane was on the scoresheet at Anfield in November when the Reds made a huge statement with a 3-1 win over City and Pep Guardiola's men, like the rest of the Premier League, have been blown away by Liverpool this season.

Given the context of the game, it is a tricky betting heat but the market move in City's favour may well have gone too far.

Liverpool's winning habit and competitive spirit under the relentlessly energetic Klopp mean they will surely want to end the season as strongly as possible. If they maintained their current points-per-game rate of 2.77 they would finish with an astonishing tally of 105 points.

And City's motivation for this fixture may not burn as intensely as the betting suggests. They are nailed on for a top-four place, 11 points clear of Manchester United in fifth, but their participation in next season's Champions League will be decided in the Court of Arbitration for Sport rather than on the pitch.

Their main footballing objectives this season are retaining the FA Cup and winning the Champions League in August so their remaining league fixtures are barely more significant than Liverpool's.

Guardiola's options for the clash with the Reds are limited by Sergio Aguero's knee injury and Fernandinho's suspension while Leroy Sane will not play for the club again after sealing a summer move to Bayern Munich.

Liverpool should be the fresher of the two sides, having played only two games since the resumption of the season to City's four, and last time out they put four goals past a Crystal Palace side who had won their previous four games to nil.

There will inevitably be a drop-off in intensity from the Reds now the title has been wrapped up but, with an empty stadium undermining City's home advantage, the new champions are an appealing draw-no-bet selection.

Key stat

Manchester City have won only two of their last 14 meetings with Liverpool in all competitions.

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