Johnnie Victoria
Head-To-Head: Manchester City vs Liverpool
With the Premier League title on the line, top of the league Manchester City takes on second place Liverpool. It will be a tight affair, both teams not wanting to give the other an inch while trying to make something for themselves.
This weekend, the feature game on show is quite possibly the biggest match of the season. It is the potential title decider between first place Manchester City and second place Liverpool.
Both have been dominant this season, and just one point separates the two sides. With eight games left to play for either side, the game this weekend could decide this year's champion.
It will be a tight affair, both teams not wanting to give the other an inch while trying to make something for themselves. When they first met earlier in the season, it ended as a 2-2 draw. Will either one walk away with all the glory this time?
Goals
Manchester City: 70
Liverpool: 77
The two sides have been amongst Europe’s best scorers this year, with Liverpool ranking second and Manchester City third from all the teams in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues.
Liverpool takes the advantage here, with a seven-goal lead of City. They also have the league’s top scorer and arguably the best player in the world right now, Mo Salah, who has scored 20 goals so far in the campaign.
They also have the joint-second top scorer in Diogo Jota, who has 14 goals, and the joint-third top scorer in Sadio Mane, who has 12 goals.
Man City, on the other hand, have three players tied for the most goals in the club. Raheem Sterling, Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne have 10 goals each.
xG per 90 minutes
Manchester City: 2.29
Liverpool: 2.47
Liverpool takes the advantage again here, leading City by 0.18 xG per 90 minutes. Both are far ahead of everyone else, with Chelsea taking the third spot with 1.72.
A big difference between the two is their actual rate of goals per 90 minutes.
Liverpool exceeds their xG per 90 minutes, as they have a 2.57 goals per 90 minutes rate. Man City, on the other hand, do not exceed their xG rate, as they have a 2.27 goals per 90 minutes rate.
Shots total per 90 minutes
Manchester City: 18.23
Liverpool: 18.93
The two sides’ impressive number of goals comes straight from the number of shots they take per game.
Liverpool have taken 568 shots in total this season, while Man City have taken 547.
The Reds take another win in a statistic related to this one, as they have 0.12 goals per shot rate, while Man City’s is 0.11.
Shots on target per 90 minutes
Manchester City: 6.37
Liverpool: 6.43
Just like in their number of shots total, Liverpool have had more shots on target this season than Man City, although this is a very slender lead.
Liverpool have had 193 shots hit the target, while Man City have had 191. Just two shots on target in it, but there are slightly bigger differences elsewhere related to this stat.
Man City have Liverpool beat for shots on target percentage, with theirs sitting at 34.9% and The Reds’ at 34%. The first victory for City so far.
Liverpool goes ahead again, though, for goals per shots on target, with 0.36 to City’s 0.32.
Goals conceded per 90 minutes
Manchester City: 0.60
Liverpool: 0.67
Man City and Liverpool have been the two best defensive sides this season by least goals conceded, and not just in the league either but from all the teams in Europe’s ‘Big Five’ leagues.
Man City takes another victory here, with 18 goals conceded this year compared to Liverpool’s 20, giving them a 0.60 goals conceded per 90 minutes rate to Liverpool’s 0.67.
Both sides’ keepers are equal for clean sheets this season, as well, with the two Brazilians Ederson and Allison both on 18 for the campaign, which is a 60% clean sheet percentage.
Penalties
Manchester City: 6/7
Liverpool: 7/8
No one has been awarded more penalties in the Premier League this season than Liverpool, and only Chelsea can match the Reds for most scored.
Again, these two teams are almost inseparable. Their penalty conversion rate has just 2% in it, with Liverpool’s being 88% and Man City’s being 86%.
Corners per game
Manchester City: 8.5
Liverpool: 7.47
Finally there is a big gap between these two teams. Man City average just over a corner a game more than Liverpool, with them having been awarded 255 corners this season to Liverpool’s 224.
While it's hard to find exactly how many goals either team have scored directly from corners, Liverpool have scored more goals from set pieces (15) than Man City (13).
Cards
Manchester City: 35 Y, 1 R
Liverpool: 36 Y, 1 R
We shouldn’t expect too many cards in this game. These two are the most disciplined teams in the league and average just over one yellow card per game, with Man City averaging 1.17 and Liverpool at 1.2.
Very interestingly, though, they both also rank at the bottom for total tackles this season. Liverpool takes the silver medal with 447, while Man City have the lowest number of tackles this season with 394.