Chris Sutton believes the initiative lies with Liverpool this weekend as they face Manchester City in a big Premier League clash.
Arne Slot’s side drew 2-2 with Aston Villa in the week which made it two draws in three games and frustrations were raised after Darwin Nunez’s late miss.
Their lead remains eight points to second-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand and face West Ham United on Saturday hoping to cut that lead down to five points to pile the pressure on the Reds.
City, however, were dismantled 3-1 by Real Madrid in a tired and uninspiring performance but they were far better against Newcastle United, winning 4-0 thanks to an Omar Marmoush hattrick last weekend.
Former Premier League winner Sutton claimed that Liverpool must believe they can get the better of this faltering City side who were ‘shambolic’ during the week. Sutton told BBC Sport: “Manchester City basically waved the white flag at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night and, without Erling Haaland, lacked belief against Real Madrid from the off.
“Let’s be frank, it was a shambolic performance from Pep Guardiola’s side, with a real lack of intensity. Liverpool had a tricky time of it against Villa in midweek but they must think they can get at this City side too.”
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Guardiola reveals injury doubts
While they have already suffered this week losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League, Guardiola lost John Stones to a serious injury while Erling Haaland failed to make an appearance off the bench.
He was a doubt heading into the game and it wasn’t worth it to risk him after they quickly went 2-0 down on the night, with Guardiola hoping the rest would help him recover for this weekend’s clash.
When asked about Haaland’s chances of playing, he told him that it will be a late decision. “Don’t know yet. Tomorrow we will know.
“It’s better to have Erling on the pitch. Everybody is responsible for the good things and bad things for the team but obviously with Erling we are better.”
For Liverpool, they are without Joe Gomez who is out for the season while Arne Slot confirmed he wasn’t 100% sure whether Cody Gakpo would be available having missed their last two games while Conor Bradley is also out of action with a hamstring issue.
