Can Liverpool extend their lead or will Man City cut the gap? See what the stats say ahead of the big game at Anfield.
Liverpool and Manchester City go head-to-head for the first time in this season's Premier League on Sunday with City needing a result to stay in touch with their title rivals.
Already trailing by six points, defeat for visitors City would leave them well adrift in the hunt for a third straight title.
Here, we pick out some key statistics ahead of the clash.
Home sweet home for Reds
City's recent record at Anfield will give them cause for concern going into Sunday's game.
They have not won at the venue since May 2003, when Nicolas Anelka scored both goals in a 2-1 Premier League win for a City team featuring Peter Schmeichel, Joey Barton and Robbie Fowler.
Since then they have drawn six and lost 12 of their 18 visits in all competitions, including six straight defeats before last season's goalless draw.
Liverpool have scored 34 goals to City's 16 in those games and enjoyed three 3-0 wins as well as a 4-3 success in January 2018.
Added to that, star striker Sergio Aguero has never scored at Anfield in eight appearances for the club, nor in his two visits with previous employers Atletico Madrid.
Indeed, of the current City squad, only David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and the injured Leroy Sane have scored for the club at Anfield.
Potent attack to buck the trend?
Aguero, though, plays his part in this season's leading Premier League attack - and that is what will give City hope of ending their miserable run at Anfield.
With 34 goals, City are seven clear of Leicester as the top-flight's top scorers and nine ahead of Liverpool - while their goal difference is eight better, despite their six-point deficit at the top.
The statistics underpinning that tell the same story - City have taken 240 shots this season, 53 clear of Liverpool's second-placed tally, and have hit the woodwork 10 times. That is twice as often as any other side, suggesting their goal tally could be even more dominant.
Aguero is joint second in the Golden Boot race with nine goals, one behind the Foxes' Jamie Vardy, while Raheem Sterling has seven and Kevin De Bruyne has set up nine.
Liverpool are clear at the top, unbeaten and with the most wins in the league, but with such a potent attack City will hope the breaks go their way this weekend for an overdue Anfield win.
That has been the case in the last two seasons as well, though - City led the league by six goals and 76 shots last season and by 22 goals and 27 shots in 2017-18 - and trips to Anfield have produced only that goalless draw and 4-3 loss.
Opta Stats
- Liverpool have only lost one of their last 28 top-flight home games against Man City (1-2 in May 2003), and are unbeaten in their last 16 against them at Anfield in the Premier League (W11 D5).
- After losing four Premier League games in a row against Liverpool between 2015-2016, Man City have lost just one of their last five against the Reds in the competition (W2 D2).
- Man City are winless in their last 16 Premier League away games against Liverpool, their longest such winless streak against an opponent in the competition’s history.
- Liverpool have won more Premier League games against reigning champions than any other side in the competition’s history (21). Indeed, they haven’t lost at home in such a match since December 2007 (0-1 vs Man Utd), winning six and drawing five since.
- This will be the 35th Premier League match between the reigning champions and league leaders – each side have won nine games each (16 draws), with the champions (Man City) beating the leaders (Liverpool) 2-1 in the last such match in January 2019.
- Liverpool have only lost one of their last 50 Premier League games (W41 D8 L1), with that loss coming against Man City in January. The Reds are unbeaten in their last 28 Premier League games, the eighth longest such run in the competition.
- Liverpool have won a league-high 10 points from losing positions this season. The Reds have won their last two Premier League games despite conceding the first goal – they’ve never done so in three consecutive games in the competition before.
- Manchester City have won 11 of their last 12 Premier League away games, losing only against Norwich in that run (2-3). The Citizens have bagged 30 goals in this period, netting an average of 2.5 goals per game.
- Manchester City have only failed to score in six of their 62 Premier League away games under Pep Guardiola. Three of those games have been on Merseyside (2 vs Liverpool, 1 vs Everton) and the other three have been in London (vs Tottenham, Crystal Palace and Chelsea).
- Despite Liverpool being on the second longest ever unbeaten home run in Premier League history (45 games), the Reds have conceded in each of their last five at Anfield. They last had a longer run without a clean sheet at home in October 2014 (7 games).
- Since becoming Barcelona manager in 2008, Man City boss Pep Guardiola has lost more games against Jurgen Klopp in all competitions than he has against any other manager (7).
- Man City striker Sergio Agüero has made seven Premier League appearances at Anfield without scoring, the ground he has played at the most without finding the net. The Argentinian has had 10 shots across those seven games, with just two on target.
- Liverpool’s Roberto Firmino has had a hand in seven goals in his eight Premier League games against Man City (4 goals, 3 assists), both scoring and assisting a goal in three different games against the Citizens.
- Manchester City striker Sergio Agüero has scored 49 goals in 79 Premier League games played on Sundays and could become just the second player to reach 50 on that specific day of the week after Wayne Rooney (63 goals in 142 games).
