Arsenal hero Paul Merson has delivered his prediction for Saturday's crucial Premier League clash between Manchester City and Liverpool.
The north London outfit currently sit on top of the table, eight points clear of City in second, although Pep Guardiola's side do have a game in hand on their title rivals. Next up for the Gunners is a home fixture against Leeds United on Saturday afternoon, with the Citizens hosting Liverpool to the Etihad Stadium a couple of hours prior.
Mikel Arteta and co will be watching on, hoping that the Reds can do them a favour, although Merson doesn't think the Merseyside-based club will be able to get a result in Manchester. Writing for Sportskeeda, Merson said: "This is a huge game for Manchester City and they cannot afford to slip up.
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"If they drop points here, they could find themselves 11 points behind Arsenal. If City win this game, however, the onus will be on Arsenal. If you’re an Arsenal fan, this is a game where you’d be hoping City would slip up.
"Liverpool aren’t going to dominate the ball and will use their pace on the counter with Salah, Nunez, and Gakpo. Manchester City do leave open spaces at the back and Liverpool will need to exploit them.
"Liverpool have been a bit like a bag of rebels, and Jurgen Klopp doesn’t know what he’s going to get from his team. One minute they’re beating Manchester United and City and the next, they’re losing to Bournemouth away from home.
"If Liverpool lose to City and then beat Arsenal next week, they’ll have blown the title race wide open. Liverpool need to win both of these games to get into the top four, and that would be a good result for them.
"Liverpool haven’t had the season they’ve had so far only because of Trent Alexander-Arnold. He gets a lot of stick, and I’m not sure what Liverpool are going to do with the situation.
"They’ve won Premier League and Champions League titles with him in the team. I would be shocked if Erling Haaland isn’t fit for this game – he pulled out of the international break.
"I don’t know which Liverpool are going to turn up, and I’m backing Man City to win a massive three points this weekend."
Merson's prediction: Manchester City 2-0 Liverpool.
Former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton echoed Merson's sentiments on the match at the Etihad, backing City to come out on top.
"Manchester City cannot afford to slip up here and lose any more ground in the title race", he told the BBC. "This is a must-win game for them.
"Liverpool will play on the front foot and try to take the game to City and I am sure they will cause them some problems, but I still worry about the Reds at the other end. Their high defensive line has been found out plenty of times this season and they are so inconsistent that I just don't trust them to hold out. I fancy City strongly in this one."
Sutton's prediction: Manchester City 3-1 Liverpool.
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