Manchester City v Liverpool
Football : English Premier League
Monday 23 August 2010 - Kickoff 8pm

This game is live on TV

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Manchester City

Manchester City got their first win of the new season in the Europa League on Thursday night as Mario Balotelli scored his first goal for his new club. While a European run may help in future efforts in terms of experience, the real prize this season for the Citizens will be a title challenge and the minumum requirement of a Champions League berth for next season. City earned a valuable point at White Hart Lane last weekend after taking a battering in the first half.

City finished 5th in the Premier League last season, 3 points off from 4th and the final Champions League spot. They had a strong 12-4-3 record at the City of Manchester Stadium, scoring 41 goals and conceding 20, but it was a defeat there during the final week of the season to Tottenham Hotspur that cost them the chance of finishing in the top 4. The side only failed to score in 4 games at home last season, losing 3 of those.

Mario Balotelli suffered a knee injury on Thursday night but should be fit to make the squad. James Milner will be available after his recent transfer from Aston Villa but Jerome Boateng and Aleksander Kolarov are both still sidelined.

Possible Manchester City Line Up: Hart, Richards, Kolo Toure, Kompany, Lescott, De Jong, Yaya Toure, Milner, Barry, Silva and Tevez (4-3-3)

Liverpool

Roy Hodgson has made a solid start to his Liverpool career and has had to with the run of games they have faced at the beginning of this new season. The side also took part in the Europa League on Thursday and managed to rest some players while giving the likes of Fernando Torres the chance to gain further match fitness. Liverpool drew their first game of the season with Arsenal at Anfield after a late Pepe Reina mistake.

The task for Hodgson will be getting his men to play better away from home. Last season, Liverpool were 5-6-8 away from home, scoring 18 goals and conceding just 20. They were the lowest goal scorers on their travels in the top 9 teams in the League but their defence was the stingiest behind Manchester United and Chelsea. Liverpool were 2-3-4 against the sides that finished in the top half of the table away from home, and lost to all 4 sides that finished in the Champions League places.

Javier Mascherano is expected to still be in the Liverpool squad after missing the Europa League game in case he was cup-tied for potential suitors. The other big names, most notably Steven Gerrard, should also return to the side. Albert Aquilani is moving on loan to Juventus for the season and Joe Cole is suspended. Daniel Agger is doubtful after suffering a concussion last weekend.

Possible Liverpool Line Up: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtal, Aurelio, Mascherano, Lucas, Kuyt, Jovanovic, Gerrard and N'Gog (4-5-1)

Head to Head

Manchester City have not had the best recent success against Liverpool, failing to win any of the last 10 Premier League games. However, 5 of the last 7 games have ended in draws including both games last season.

City have won only 1 of their last 10 home games with Liverpool and goals have been at a premium in recent meetings in Manchester with 5 of the last 6 games ending with 1 goal or less. In fact, 3 of the last 4 games have finished 0-0 here at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Prediction

Roberto Mancini has been given a testing start to the season as he looks to mould his new signings into a coherent team. There are some rumblings that he is perhaps 'too Italian' in his methods with the use of 2 or 3 holding players in games. However, this makes them a tough prospect for any team to play.

Liverpool will want to continue their solid, if unspectacular, start to the season. Roy Hodgson made his Fulham team extremely durable and hard to beat in the last 2 years he had been at their helm, and I expect his Liverpool side to follow those methods away from home. I am sure most Liverpool fans would consider a point a good result from this game, while Fernando Torres regains full fitness.

This is a tough game to call as both sides would like to lay down a marker for the rest of the season from this game. Their recent meetings have been tight, with a number of draws, and I have a feeling that both sides may cancel each other out again here.

1 goal could settle this game in either direction, and it is a distinct possibility with the quality that will be on show. I will pick the Under 1.5 goals option here as it would have been a winner in 5 of the last 6 games and I forsee another tight battle.

The Statistics :

The Pick :

Manchester City 0-0 Liverpool

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

I'll have a go with the UNDER 1.5 GOALS as I feel 1 goal could be enough for either side in a tight battle and I cannot pick a winner.