Alisson Becker and Mateo Kovacic out as 10 stars injured for Liverpool vs Man City – predicted line-ups and how to follow

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Liverpool have the chance to go 11 points clear of Premier League champions Manchester City when the two sides meet this weekend.

The title rivals are in polar opposite form for their latest encounter but the Reds have struggled to best Pep Guardiola in recent times.

Liverpool are the only team to have stopped City from winning seven successive Premier League titles with their 2020 triumph.

The Merseysiders can take a massive step towards doing so again by beating the champions at Anfield to move 11 points clear at the top.

However, Liverpool have won just one of their past nine Premier League matches with City – with former manager Jurgen Klopp‘s superior head-to-head record against Guardiola mainly coming via cup competitions.

The latter has plenty of reasons to be cautious as well, not least because his side have lost their last five straight games.

Guardiola also has a miserable record at Anfield, with his only win in nine visits coming without fans in the COVID era of February 2021.

Liverpool vs Man City: How to follow

This Premier League clash will take place on Sunday, December 1. 

Kick-off at Anfield is at the earlier time of 4pm and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League.

talkSPORT will also keep you up to date with all the latest news and reaction. Meanwhile, talkSPORT.com will have live updates of the game on our dedicated live blog. 

To tune in to talkSPORT or talkSPORT 2 through the website, click HERE for the live stream. 

You can also listen via the talkSPORT app, on DAB digital radio, through your smart speaker and on 1089 or 1053 AM.

Liverpool

Arne Slot is arguably facing his toughest team selection for his first managerial meeting with the Premier League’s top coach.

The Dutchman is sweating on the fitness of his No.1 goalkeeper, his vice-captain, and the centre forward he started the season with.

Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Diogo Jota all suffered injuries before the international break but are closing in on returns.

Speaking on Friday, Slot was asked whether the trio could be involved against City and said: “The only thing I can say is that with Alisson and with Jota, I don’t expect them to be available for that game. With Trent, it’s going to be in between.”

Alisson has yet to play for the Reds since suffering a hamstring injury in Liverpool’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at the start of October.

The Brazilian has missed over 40 matches with various fitness issues over the past five seasons, and the club will be wary of rushing him back, especially in such a high-profile game.

Caoimhin Kelleher has impressed in his absence and will look to set down a marker facing up against Erling Haaland.

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk has formed a rock-solid pairing with Ibrahima Konate in front, but doubts remain at full-back.

Alexander-Arnold – who scored in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad last year – has had a bizarre run of injury misfortune when City visit Anfield.

The England star has played just a minute of action during Guardiola’s last three trips to Liverpool due to injury and hasn’t started a home Premier League match against them since the Spaniard’s one win in 2021.

Should that strange curse continue for a fourth season then Conor Bradley is expected to deputise, with Joe Gomez an alternate option.

Gomez, who was man-of-the-match for Liverpool’s last win over City at Anfield in 2022, could also be required on the opposite flank.

Kostas Tsimikas missed the 3-2 comeback win over Southampton with a minor issue and will likely return having usurped Andy Robertson.

Scotland captain Robertson made another high-profile mistake on the south coast after conceding a penalty, and, having already endured a torrid time up against Bukayo Saka last month, would be highly unfancied facing City’s dangerous wide men.

Dominik Szoboszlai did get on the scoresheet on Sunday but may drop out to allow Alexis Mac Allister to partner Ryan Gravenberch.

Curtis Jones – who has been reborn under Slot – would then be pushed forward into a defensive No.10 role that he operated in so successfully in his standout scoring display against Chelsea.

Mohamed Salah is a permanent fixture on the right of Liverpool’s attack, but the remaining two positions are still up for grabs.

It is expected that Luis Diaz may serve as a false nine against Real Madrid in midweek to combat the physicality of Antonio Rudiger and co. in a similar fashion to his hat-trick display at home to Bayer Leverkusen last month.

The Colombian, who was incorrectly linked with a summer move to City, ran rings around Kyle Walker in March.

This will likely be the deciding factor in returning to the left ahead of Cody Gakpo to do so again, with Darwin Nunez’s raw pace a vital asset on the counter-attack.

Man City

Guardiola is in unprecedented waters having lost five successive games in all competitions for the first time in his managerial career.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager will be forced into some changes from the defeat that lost 4-0 to Spurs.

John Stones‘ stop-start to the season continued having lasted only 45 minutes on Saturday – which was his first appearance since the Carabao Cup loss away to Ange Postecoglou’s side last month.

The England international, whose goal put City ahead at Anfield earlier this year, was replaced at half-time by Nathan Ake.

Ake’s defensive qualities may be needed on the left to help keep Salah quiet, with Guardiola desperate for Ruben Dias to return.

The Portuguese was injured in the same cup defeat to Tottenham as Stones and City’s backline have conceded 12 goals in their past four without him – eight of which coming in just half of those matches.

Walker struggled again when facing his old side last time out with Timo Werner breezing past him to lay on Tottenham’s fourth goal.

The 34-year-old remains City’s captain and Guardiola is unlikely to take him out of the firing line for such a high-profile away game.

Rico Lewis may have to contend with a substitutes spot unless he’s needed to invert from the left as he did for England if Dias isn’t fit to partner Manuel Akanji so Ake moves centrally.

Either way, the 20-year-old surely won’t be featuring in the middle considering Slot’s array of powerful box-to-box midfielders.

Lewis only won 33 per cent of his tackles and 55 per cent of his ground duels against Spurs where he was playing at the Etihad.

Instead, Kevin De Bruyne, who has four goals and seven assists in 13 appearances against Liverpool in the Premier League, will take up his spot alongside Bernardo Silva.

Ilkay Gundogan may be afforded greater protection having struggled to fill the gap left by Rodri‘s serious knee injury, with second-choice Mateo Kovacic also sidelined.

Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish‘s fitness issues mean Savinho and Phil Foden will retain their spots on the wing despite their struggles.

Haaland is still waiting on his first Anfield goal since arriving at City but comes into the contest during a rare moment of poor form.

Guardiola refused to blame the Norwegian’s recent dry spell on his side’s losing run, saying: “We have four or five wingers, but we only had one. Phil was excellent in that position but he’s struggled early with niggles and little things. Kevin has been injured.

“That is the reality and we have to adapt. I would say the reason for our lack of goals is not Erling Haaland. Without Erling, we would be more in trouble! We are lucky to have Erling. Every game, he has three or four chances. One day he scores two or three.”