Sports Blog 02/03/2016: Premier League Preview – Liverpool vs Manchester City, Wednesday 2nd March 2016

Only 2 days after their meeting in the League Cup final Liverpool and Manchester City face each other one again at 8pm on BT Sport 1.

Sunday’s final was a close affair, with an early 2nd half opener by Fernandinho cancelled out by Philippe Coutinho in the 83rd minute. A tense stalemate in extra time then gave way to penalties, where Willy Caballero, City’s second choice keeper, more than justified Manuel Pellegrini’s loyalty, saving spot kicks from Lucas, Coutinho and Adam Lallana to see the Manchester side lift the League Cup for the 4th time in their history.



The pressure is now on Liverpool to bounce back from the defeat, one that leaves them with little chance of winning a trophy this season (with their Europa League last 16 draw against Manchester United calling into question the possibility of success in the continent’s 2nd tier competition). The Reds could desperately do with a victory in the league; slipping to 11th place (but, granted, with a game in hand) they are currently 6 points away from 5th place, and are in danger of being absent from Europe all together next season.

Team-wise Mamadou Sakho will be potentially absent after taking a knock on Sunday, as is Lucas; Daniel Sturridge may also miss out after suffering cramp towards the end of the final, but nevertheless has a Super Mega PGM spread of 23-28. Divock Origi, meanwhile, is at a Super Mega PGM of 20-24, as is Christian Benteke, despite having not started a game since the turn of the New Year.

For City Wednesday is just as important; with Arsenal losing to Manchester United at the weekend, and Leicester being frustrated by West Brom on Tuesday evening, a win can put Pellegrini’s side right back in the mix. For whilst, in 4th place, they are 10 points behind the Foxes, they have played 2 games less than the league leaders; similarly they are only 4 points behind the Gunners and 7 behind Tottenham, with a game in hand over both. A fortunate set of results from the two London clubs (a shaky Arsenal hosting Swansea whilst Spurs travel across the city to face a more than capable West Ham) would be even better for Man City, especially given their next 2 games are the soft-bellied, relegation-battling Aston Villa and Norwich.

Though he scored the winning penalty on Sunday Yaya Toure is likely to be out for Wednesday’s game; Raheem Sterling, however, is set to make another appearance in front of his old fans, going into the match at a Super Mega PGM of 10-14. Sergio Aguero, meanwhile, is at a Super Mega PGM of 35-41 with 19 goals to his name this season, whilst the promising Kelechi Iheanacho is at 17-21.

Given how narrow things were at the weekend there is every expectation Wednesday night’s game will be just as tight, our Spreadex traders just about fancying the away side at a Manchester City/Liverpool Goal Supremacy spread of 0-0.2 with a Total Goals spread of 2.6-2.8.

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