Former England defender Martin Keown has pointed out how Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa can beat Man City at the Etihad and gift Liverpool the Premier League title.
The Reds are currently in second place heading into the final day of the season and one point behind the league leaders. City welcome Villa to Manchester and will need to win to ensure they retain the title and not rely on Wolves getting a result at Anfield. It's a colossus task for Villa given that only Southampton, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool have taken anything off Pep Guardiola's side at home this season.
Keown believes that Klopp has shown twice this season how to get the better of City and has been dropping subtle hints to former Liverpool captain on not only the 'weaknesses' in his team but also how to attack City and not be left vulnerable to the brand of football on display in Manchester.
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"You are guaranteed to suffer without the ball when facing City," Keown told the Daily Mail. "The visitors who left the Etihad with the best results were determined, strong in their individual duels, defended deep as if their lives depended on it and hit City on the break at pace.
"On Sunday, it’s Villa’s turn to try to stop City, with one of Liverpool’s favourite sons in Steven Gerrard hoping he can do his former club the ultimate favour by taking points off City. City’s 4-3-3 system is similar to Liverpool’s in many ways and, after overcoming Villa earlier this month, perhaps Jurgen Klopp was sending a coded message to Gerrard in his post-match interviews.
"More than once, Klopp pointed out how Villa’s diamond shape had weaknesses which they exploited. It was as if he was highlighting those weak spots in readiness for the next time Gerrard faces a 4-3-3 system. That will come on Sunday in the shape of City.
"Klopp said Liverpool were able to take control of the game against Villa once they ‘started playing football’, meaning passing the ball better. When they started to do that, their full backs were able to get high and wide, often unopposed, and that allowed Liverpool to begin dominating the game.
"Defensively, one of the problems with Villa’s diamond system is, although it gives them bodies in the middle of the park, it can leave them exposed out wide. Against Liverpool, Marvelous Nakamba was the sitting midfielder. In front of him but narrow were Douglas Luiz and John McGinn. Then, at the tip of the diamond was Philippe Coutinho, playmaker to the strike pairing of both Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins.
"If Villa adopt this same system, City, who arguably pass the ball even better than Liverpool, would establish control much earlier in the game. Pep Guardiola would send his full backs flying forward to create the chances they need to become champions — so it will be interesting to see if Gerrard takes Klopp’s comments on board and makes some sort of tactical switch to combat City’s wide men."
The former Arsenal and England defender also used West Ham's first-half performance last week in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium as a further example of just how City's backline can be breached with pace in behind and how Villa are set up to attack in a similar fashion.
"Villa will have been encouraged by last weekend’s performance from West Ham, who targeted City’s patched-up back line on the break. Fernandinho was used as a makeshift centre back alongside Aymeric Laporte, and Jarrod Bowen scored twice for West Ham by making runs from deep to get behind City. Bowen and Michail Antonio looked a constant threat throughout in that 2-2 draw and in Watkins and Ings, Villa have the pace to do exactly what West Ham did."
