Manchester
City and Liverpool will renew their rivalry beneath the Etihad Stadium
floodlights on Monday in the first major head-to-head encounter of the
fledgling Premier League season.
When the teams last met, at Anfield in April,
a late Philippe Coutinho goal gave Liverpool a 3-2 victory that left
them on course for a first league title since 1990.
But with the finishing line in sight, Brendan
Rodgers’ side collapsed, allowing City to creep up on the rails and pip
them to the title by two points.
Liverpool’s late-season slump was
particularly traumatic for captain Steven Gerrard, whose slip against
Chelsea allowed Demba Ba to score a goal that allowed City back into the
title race.
After then crashing out of the World Cup in
the group phase with England, the 34-year-old said he had been through
“probably the worst three months of my life”.
The meeting with City will bring memories of
what happened last season into sharp focus for Gerrard and his
team-mates, but the champions’ manager, Manuel Pellegrini, does not
think it will have any bearing on Monday’s game.
“I cannot know what happened inside Liverpool
or if they will be affected by last season or not,” said the Chilean,
whose side won 2-0 at Newcastle United in the first game of their title
defence.
“My way of thinking is that last season is
finished, for our team it is finished. I suppose that also for Liverpool
it is finished.”
Whereas City have enjoyed a largely settled off season, Liverpool have witnessed significant upheaval.
Luis Suarez’s departure for Barcelona in a
£75 million ($124 million, 94 million euros) transfer helped fund a
splurge of investment that has seen eight new players move to the club,
with former City striker Mario Balotelli also poised to join them.
Balotelli will not feature against his old
side as his transfer was not finalised before the weekend, but
Liverpool’s fans could get their first glimpses of new signings Lazar
Markovic and Alberto Moreno.
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