Mohamed Salah may be struggling for form in front of goal, but the Egyptian’s impressive record against Man City is evidence why he should keep his place.
Salah has scored in four of the last five meetings between Liverpool and Man City.
He has seven in 12 appearances against today’s opponents.
Only three players in the club’s history have scored more goals against City: Gordon Hodgson (11 in 16 games), Sir Kenny Dalglish (11 in 16) and Ian Rush (15 in 20).
At least one today would see Salah move clear into fourth in the all-time list, as he is currently tied with Harry Chambers (seven in 13), Roger Hunt (seven in 11) and Bobby Graham (seven in seven).
Power shift
Today will be the clubs’ 50th Premier League meeting. Of the previous 49, Liverpool have won 20 and City 11, while at City the Reds have won four with 11 draws and nine defeats.
At the Etihad, Liverpool have won three with seven draws and right defeats, winning one of the last 12 and taking seven points out of a possible 36.
The Reds have not won in the last four at City (two draws and two defeats), conceding 12 in the process and have no clean sheets in the last 11 visits since a 0-0 draw in February 2010.
They have conceded 14 times at City in the league under Jurgen Klopp – more than against any team on the road under him.
In the last 11 league visits to City, the Reds have conceded 27 goals.
On the road again
Liverpool have scored 38 away goals this season – the most of any top-flight team in the league.
The Reds won their last four away games in the league and have won each of the last eight in all competitions, a new club record (nine if you include the Carabao Cup final).
They have kept clean sheets in each of the last three away league fixtures.
Not since March 2015 (in a run of six) have they kept four in a row on the road in the top flight.
The decider
Klopp has beaten Pep Guardiola nine times as a manager and lost nine.
He has won only five of his 13 league games against City, with four draws and four defeats.
Raheem’s reunion
Raheem Sterling scored 23 goals in 129 appearances for Liverpool, scoring once against City.
He has three goals in 16 games against Liverpool in all competitions.
Nobody has scored more league goals for City than Sterling, who has 10 along with Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne.
Today’s referee
Anthony Taylor has taken charge of this fixture three times in his career (all at the Etihad) and City are unbeaten (two wins and a draw).
He was the man in the middle when Liverpool won 5-0 at Man United back in October.
This season’s scorers
Man City: Mahrez 22, Sterling 14, De Bruyne 13, Foden 11, Silva 10, Gundogan 8, Jesus 6, Grealish 4, Cancelo 3, Laporte 3, Palmer 3, Rodri 3, Torres 3, own goals 3, Ake 2, Dias 2, Stones 2, Fernandinho 1, Walker 1
Liverpool: Salah 28, Jota 20, Mane 15, Firmino 9, Minamino 9, Fabinho 7, Origi 5, Henderson 3, Keita 3, Diaz 3, Oxlade-Chamberlain 3, Van Dijk 3, Alexander-Arnold 2, Thiago 2, Elliott 1, Gordon 1, Jones 1, Konate 1, Matip 1, Robertson 1, own goals 1
* Stats courtesy of LFC statistician Ged Rea (@ged0407).
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