City Hoping to Seal Top Four Finish against Liverpool

Roberto Mancini will be looking for confirm Champions League football for next season as his Manchester City side visit Kenny Dalglish’s Liverpool in the Premier League.

Both sides recently crashed out of equally disappointing Europa League campaigns, and will be hoping for strong finishes in the league to book-end both their seasons.

The Citizens are currently fourth in the league after a 5-0 thumping of Sunderland last time out. They are 11 points ahead of The Merseysiders, who are sixth. The blue half of Manchester could jump above Chelsea into third should they be victorious, but would remain ten points adrift of leaders Manchester United, who they face next Saturday in the FA Cup Semi Final, at Wembley.

“It will be important to win at Anfield,” Mancini stated this week. “it would be important for our chances of getting into the Champions League and finishing either second or third in the table.

“It is not just this week that is very important, it is the next four or five weeks. We want to win as many league games as possible. We also have a chance to go to the [FA Cup] final.”

At this crucial stage of the season, Mancini will be delighted that his side are staying relatively injury free – the only absentees for the Monday night clash are defenders Jerome Boateng and Micah Richards, and long term injury victim Shay Given. Kolo Toure is still under   suspension.

Liverpool, on the other hand, had to face news this week that captain Steven Gerrard will not play again this season due to a hamstring problem; the latest setback in an injury-plagued season for the England international.

The reds will also be missing defenders Glen Johnson, Martin Kelly and Daniel Agger, whilst question marks remain over the match fitness of Fabio Aurelio, Jonjo Shelvey and David Ngog.

Three points for Liverpool would see them stretch four points clear of Everton, who are in seventh.

Form
All Competitions:

Liverpool: WLDWL (6 goals for, 4 against)
Man City: LWWLW (7 goals for, 4 against)

Premier League:

Liverpool: DLWWL (8 goals for, 7 against)
Man City: LDWLW (8 goals for, 5 against)

Premier League 09/10:

Liverpool 2–2 Man City
Man City 0-0 Liverpool

Premier League 10/11:

Man City 3-0 Liverpool