Saturday 21 November 2015 20:55, UK
Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling faces former club Liverpool for the first time since his summer exit when the Reds travel to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday Night Football.
A five-year spell on Merseyside came to an acrimonious end in the summer, with the forward publicly pushing through a transfer amid reports of a falling out with then-manager Brendan Rodgers.
Sterling's adaptation to life in Manchester has been impressive, with the England international slotting into a potent City attack which has propelled the club to the top of the Premier League table.
It's an attack that will be strengthened by the return of the prolific Sergio Aguero, who is back after seven games out with a hamstring injury.
It looks set to be a day of reunions on Saturday, with Daniel Sturridge and James Milner potentially facing their former employees, should they recover from knee and hamstring injuries respectively.
With Crystal Palace inflicting the first defeat of the Jurgen Klopp era before the international break, the Liverpool manager will hope to have two experienced members of his squad to call upon at a venue where the Reds have failed to win in the league since October 2008.
Team news
Despite the return of Aguero, City boss Manuel Pellegrini faces an injury headache ahead of Saturday's clash.
Captain Vincent Kompany is again sidelined by a calf problem while playmaker David Silva (ankle) and striker Wilfried Bony (hamstring) are also missing.
Defender Pablo Zabaleta is back in contention after a knee problem but Samir Nasri (leg) faces a lengthy spell out.
Klopp will make a late decision on whether to include striker Sturridge. The England international returned to full training this week after five weeks out with a knee injury, although Saturday's game may come too early.
Midfielders Jordan Henderson (broken foot) and Jordan Rossiter (hamstring) are set to resume training with the squad next week but Milner (hamstring) and Jordon Ibe (knee) have recovered from problems which forced them out of international duty.
Opta stats
Liverpool have lost just one of their last six league away games (W2 D3), but that came in Manchester at Old Trafford v Man Utd.
Liverpool have scored just 13 league goals, the joint-lowest tally of any Premier League season for the Reds after 12 matches.
This is Manchester City's third best start to a Premier League season after 2011/12 (34 points) and 2012/13 (28).
Man City have won four and lost none of their last six league games against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City have fired in the most shots on target of any team in the Premier League (83) while Liverpool have the worst chance conversion rate (10.5%).
Philippe Coutinho has scored three goals in four league appearances against Man City.
Only Joe Hart (14) has kept more Premier League clean sheets in 2015 than Simon Mignolet (13).
Merson's prediction
I think it's a nice game for Liverpool, because nobody expects them to win. They went to Chelsea and won, then lost at home to Palace - it's obvious there's a lot of work to be done still and Jurgen Klopp knows that.
Man City are top of the league without Sergio Aguero and David Silva in recent weeks. I think they win this game 2-0. They've coped quite well without Aguero, even though Wilfried Bony was relatively quiet.
In the future it is something they need to address, but it is hard. When you have all that money and you go out and attempt to buy someone, whoever they go out and buy is not going to play as much as they want. If you go out and pay £50m for a top drawer centre forward, will they want to go to Man City and not get a game?
PAUL PREDICTS: 2-0 (15/2 with Sky Bet)
Betting
Manchester City are Sky Bet's 8/13 favourites to extend their excellent home record against 9/2 shots Liverpool. Both teams have scored and there have been over 2.5 goals in each of the last five league meetings between the two and it's 11/10 for that trend to continue. Of the last four games between the North West rivals, the team playing at home has come out on top every time making the 9/4 on a City win and both teams scoring appealing at 9/4. Check out the tips from pundits Jamie Redknapp, Charlie Nicholas, Matt Le Tissier and Phil Thompson here.
Watch Manchester City v Liverpool live on Saturday Night Football, 5pm, Sky Sports 1 HD.
