Jürgen Klopp has admitted Liverpool will have to deliver a “special” performance to beat Manchester City on Sunday and believes a victory could provide the spark that would reignite their title defence.
The champions have been in stuttering form since Christmas, playing poorly and winning just three out of 10 games in all competitions, a run that has also seen them lose twice in a row at home, most recently against Brighton on Wednesday. Across the same period City have been imperious, winning every fixture, going top and opening up a seven-point gap on Liverpool in fourth.
This makes it make-or-break for Liverpool for their return to Anfield, especially given City also have a game in hand, and while the odds may be against Klopp’s side, recent history is not – City were seven points behind Liverpool when the teams met at the Etihad Stadium in January 2019; City went on to win 2-1 and retained the title.
“The situation [now compared with January 2019] is completely different but, yes, of course, things can change really quickly,” said Klopp. “There are a lot of things to consider for a game like this, a lot of things to think about, but in the end we have to play football on a high level because you don’t get easy chances against City. You have to make special things happen, and that is what we will try.”
Alisson, Fabinho and Sadio Mané are set to return for the hosts, having missed the game against Brighton through illness and injury. The new signing Ozan Kabak could also start having received international clearance, although it is likely the 20-year-old will be on the bench, alongside his fellow recent recruit Ben Davies.
The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email
Regardless of who features on Sunday, Liverpool’s display will certainly need to be much better than those delivered in midweek and against Burnley 16 days ago. One thing Klopp is especially keen to see from his players is greater urgency in their passing, using a phrase that translates from German somewhat curiously to make his point. “It is about the tempo of the ball,” he said. “Everything was open [against Brighton] but they could close the gap because the ball was not [passed] hard enough.
“Otherwise we would have been in brilliant positions. We have the ball, no pressure, we have two or three runners … we destroy with our backside what we build with our hands.”