Liverpool vs. Manchester City prediction: Premier League odds, picks

It’s a massive weekend in the Premier League, but the clear headliner takes place on Saturday morning (7:30 a.m. ET) when Liverpool travels to the Etihad to take on Manchester City.

Only one point separates first-place City and second-place Liverpool as we head into the busiest part of the Premier League season, but the Cityzens are an odds-on favorite to win the title at -250 at the time of writing.

A win over the Reds, who are the third choice at +600, would put Pep Guardiola’s side in a fantastic position to put some distance between them and the chasing pack.

But if Liverpool pull off the upset, things will get quite interesting at the top of the table. 

Liverpool vs. Manchester City prediction

(7:30 a.m. ET. Peacock)

There’s some volatility to this handicap as there are some injury concerns on both sides. Manchester City could be without Ederson, Erling Haaland and Nathan Ake, while Liverpool has doubts over the fitness of Ibrahima Konate. 

Nonetheless, this should be a thrilling encounter between two rivals that look likely to be battling for silverware all season long.

After a relatively sluggish start to the season, Manchester City has picked up its offensive output of late.

The Cityzens tend to take some time to find their footing in the early stages of a campaign, but things started to pick up quite a bit after a loss to Arsenal right before the last international break.

City has gone 5-1-0 (W-D-L) in all competitions since then and scored 21 goals on 17.2 expected goals (xG) in that span.

City’s attack is buzzing and you’d think they’d want to keep their foot on the pedal against a vulnerable Liverpool defense, but that would be playing right into Liverpool’s hands.

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In fact, I’d imagine that City opts to play a much more passive style of soccer on Saturday in order to avoid giving Liverpool a chance to punish them in transition.

The Reds prefer matches to be back-and-forth so they can punish their opponents on quick-striking counterattacks, but it would be surprising if the Cityzens allow that to happen.

This match will have plenty of hype, but I think it’ll end up playing out closer to a chess match with City trying to keep things tidy.

The Bet: Under 3.5 (-150, BetMGM)