A Quick Look Ahead To This Afternoon's Man City V Liverpool Game

 Our third and final away game in a week is at Manchester City on Sunday, so far we’ve lost one and drawn one, so the logical next step is……………….. On paper the games have got progressively tougher, Oldham, Arsenal and then the defending champions, and if we find the match at the Etihad even harder than the other two then we’re in for a very difficult afternoon.

 Elements of our game at Arsenal certainly point towards us having a chance of gaining a victory at City. Exploiting our opponents defensive weaknesses in addition to defending with a bit more determination ourselves can only improve our odds. I’ve not seen a lot of Man City this season but when I have they’ve not looked anything special but they have got matchwinners in their side (Tevez, Aguero, Silva..) and we’ll have to keep our concentration for the full ninety minutes or we’ll go home with nothing.

 I’m a big believer in the power of the ex-player and for this reason I’m hoping Daniel Sturridge will have a decent game for us, and if your strikers play well (it’s become a given that Suarez will perform) you always have a chance. City could be without Toure and Kompany who are probably their most natural leaders on the pitch so if we can swing the game in our favour as we did on Wednesday at Arsenal I’d fancy our chances of holding on.

 We haven’t yet won a league game this season where we’ve conceded first so it’s vital we’re switched on from the very beginning. Two tough Premier League away games in a row does sound like the fixture computer has been playing tricks on us but in reality one game may be the perfect preparation for the next, helps get the players in the right mindset and means you can train to the same gameplan all week rather than having to change the tactics at a few days notice with a totally different match in prospect. In reality some aspects of our preparation for Sunday’s fixture have been in place for a week rather than just the few days since our last game.

 We need our big players like Gerrard, Reina, Carragher, Agger, Johnson and Suarez to step up and be counted, and our younger ones like Henderson, Wisdom and Sturridge to continue the decent form they’ve shown lately. If everyone pulls in the right direction I can see us winning but if we suffer any lapses in concentration or effort we will pay for it. Brendan Rodgers needs to get his tactics spot on and exploit any problem areas for City while also looking to nullify their strengths, and if everything falls into place we can hopefully come away with the win.