Man City take five-from-five record to Anfield in first game since verdict

Manchester City go to Anfield on Sunday, 4.30pm UK time, with five wins from five Premier League games, in their first match since an independent commission found them guilty of breaching the league's financial rules. Liverpool are sixth and still unbeaten, but six points behind and possibly without two of their forwards.

## The stakes City lead on 15 points under Enzo Maresca, who took over from Pep Guardiola in the summer. Arsenal are second on 12 and host Leeds on Saturday, so City could start the match level on points with them. Liverpool have nine, and if they avoid defeat Andoni Iraola would become only the third permanent Liverpool manager to go unbeaten in his first six top-flight matches, Sky Sports notes.

City deny wrongdoing and have appealed against the verdict, which covers the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons; a sanctions hearing is still to come. Merseyside Police have confirmed an "appropriate policing operation", with no provision for extra officers, and Liverpool sources have described the occasion as "business as usual", according to the Standard.

## Form City have scored 13 and conceded five: 2-1 against Bournemouth, 4-1 at Crystal Palace, 1-0 against Coventry, 1-0 at Manchester United and 5-3 against Sunderland. Erling Haaland leads the scoring chart with five league goals, and only Brighton (16) have scored more than City.

Liverpool drew 2-2 at Newcastle and at home to Nottingham Forest, won 2-0 at Ipswich, drew 0-0 with Fulham at Anfield and won 1-0 at Bournemouth. They have kept three clean sheets in a row but are still waiting for a first home league win. Alexander Isak has scored four of their seven league goals.

## Team news Isak picked up a thigh problem with Sweden and Cody Gakpo an ankle injury with the Netherlands. "Now it's a matter of if they are going to recover in time to help us in the next game or not. But right now they are both injured," Iraola said. Centre-back Jeremy Jacquet is also a doubt after the French federation reported a strain to his left hamstring, and Hugo Ekitike remains out with an Achilles injury.

City are without Phil Foden, who serves the last game of a three-match ban after his red card in the Manchester derby. Haaland asked to come off during Norway's 2-1 defeat by Portugal, but Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said the substitution had been discussed in advance. Sports Mole lists Haaland as a minor doubt with fatigue, along with Antoine Semenyo and Nico O'Reilly, who both withdrew from international duty.

Iraola pointed to the gap between the two starts. "We've been unbeaten but they've won all of them, so it makes a big difference in their side," he said. "I think we need to be very, very good if we want to beat City."