Premier League champions Liverpool travel to Manchester City on Sunday hoping to further strengthen their lead at the top of the table.
The Reds are second behind Liverpool, who won on Friday night and have played a game more, but they face a difficult trip to the Etihad in the pick of the weekend’s top-flight action.
Klopp’s side travel to Man City this weekend
After a mixed bag of results to kick off the campaign, including a remarkable 7-2 humbling at the hands of Aston Villa, the Reds have recovered well and are back on track – even without lynchpin defender Virgil van Dijk.
However, as Jurgen Klopp prepares his men for the visit to City, a stat has emerged which does not make for great reading for his all-conquering side.
Incredibly, Man City have won their last three Premier League home games against the Reds by a whopping aggregate score of 11-1.
The Reds were hammered 4-0 by City shortly after they sealed the title last term, and in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons lost 5-0 and 2-1 respectively.
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However, Liverpool face a City side who are nowhere near as free scoring than they have been in previous seasons.
In fact, they are currently worse at scoring goals than any other Manchester City side in the ENTIRE Sheikh Mansour era.
In their six Premier League games this season, Pep Guardiola’s side have scored just nine goals (1.5 per game) and have an expected goals (xG) figure of 7.9 (1.3 per game).
This is City’s lowest xG-per-game rate in the Premier League since data became available (2013/14), while its also their smallest goals-per-game ratio in the league since 2007/08 (1.2) – when they were owned by Thaksin Shinawatra and managed by Sven-Goran Eriksson!
Guardiola will be hoping to defeat Liverpool at home in the Premier League for the fourth consecutive match
Nevertheless, Gabriel Jesus has set his sights on defeating Liverpool after making a goalscoring return to action for City in the Champions League in midweek.
The Brazil striker came off the bench to turn Tuesday’s Champions League clash with Olympiacos at the Etihad Stadium decisively in City’s favour.
It was the 23-year-old’s first appearance since suffering a thigh injury in the opening game of the season and the first time in three games City have had a specialist centre-forward on the field.
Jesus scored on his return to action in midweek
“It’s a very important game for us,” said Jesus. “It’s a direct confrontation against the leader of the table.
“We need to be very focused, especially playing at home. We need to play our way and try to win the game. We need to win those three points if we want to aspire to win the Premier League again.”