Coming into the season, Liverpool hosting Manchester City at home was one of the matches that was circled on the fixture list. Expected to be a fight for the title, it’s still a significant match, just not in the way that either manager would’ve expected it to be. Manchester City are in second place in the league but an astonishing nine points behind Arsenal for first place. It’s already a pipe dream for Pep Guardiola’s men to come back and win the title, but if they don’t win this game and the gap grows beyond nine points in the coming weeks, it’s all but over.
How to watch Liverpool vs. Manchester City, odds
- Date: Sunday, Feb. 8 | Time: 11:30 a.m. ET
- Location: Anfield — Liverpool, England
- Live stream: Peacock
- Odds: Liverpool +125; Draw +270; Mancehster City +190
For Arne Slot’s Liverpool, things are equally critical. The Reds are in sixth place, four points off the pace of Chelsea with a game in hand. At risk of missing the Champions League next season, pressure is building by the day. Liverpool’s form has improved in some ways, but it hasn’t led to wins, with just one victory in their last five league matches. They only have one loss in that span as well, but draws won’t be good enough with Chelsea and Manchester United surging ahead of them.
All eyes will be on Florian Wirtz and Erling Haaland, who are also two players going in different directions. Wirtz is playing some of his best soccer in a Liverpool shirt with a goal and an assist in his last match, a 4-1 victory over Newcastle United, while Haaland is riding a scoring slump. A player who has been compared to a cyborg due to how automatic finding the back of the net is for the Norwegian, it’s easy to miss that he has only scored once in his last five Premier League matches.
It has become quite a pronounced slump as the chart below shows, with his shot quality, expected goals per 90 minutes, and every significant attacking stat has dropped off.
CBS Sports
It’s hard to explain exactly why as well. In Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden, there’s no lack of quality service into the box, but minutes could be catching up to Haaland. He has played over 2,700 minutes across all competitions as he’s the first, second, and third best option to put the ball in the back of the net for City. With 27 goals and five assists in all competitions, he has done that quite well, but it also makes this current slump even more pronounced. Only two of those goals and one assist have come in 2026, showing just how hot his start to the season was.
But Manchester City can’t afford slumps from him. Even with Antoine Semenyo fitting into the attack well, Haaland is the one who will determine the fortunes of this squad. Liverpool will do everything that they can to make the slump continue, but this is where the chess match between Slot and Guardiola will be critical, as no one will want to lose this match. But will either win it and potentially kickstart a second half run?
