Liverpool entertain Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon, with head coach Andoni Iraola focused on the pitch despite the ongoing fallout from the 114 guilty verdicts handed down to City following the investigation into alleged Premier League financial breaches.
An appeal is now ongoing that could last several months, and few within the top flight are willing to definitively state their feelings on such a competition-defining situation until any potential sanctions have been meted out. For Iraola, the main concern is the uncertainty that remains until the process is finally concluded.
Hostile reception expected at Anfield
There is no doubt City will face a volatile and hostile reception from Liverpool supporters from the moment their team coach is first spotted making its way up to Anfield, but there is significantly less clarity over how either side will react to the occasion.
For City, the task is obvious with an almost full-strength squad given a first opportunity to respond to having their previous achievements and ongoing efforts tainted by the findings of the independent commission. More will be known come Sunday evening whether the undoubted hurt over the situation will become help or hindrance as they await the club's fate.
Liverpool, though, have other matters to hand. The last thing they can afford is to be distracted by events off the pitch and the noise surrounding an always powderkeg fixture.
Injury crisis in attack
While Reds supporters will vocally reaffirm the guilty verdicts while questioning the achievements of City when up against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in particular, Iraola is grappling with an injury crisis in attack at precisely the wrong time given Sunday represents the first of nine games in 29 days the head coach believes will determine the state of his squad and the ambitions over the forthcoming months of the campaign.
Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo have joined Hugo Ekitike in being absent, which will increase, perhaps for the first time, the expectation on summer signings £123million Bradley Barcola and £34.5m Victor Munoz while testing how far along in his progress 18-year-old Rio Ngumoha has now travelled after two further appearances for England during the recent international break.
There is also the question over whether Ronald Araujo continues ahead of Jeremie Frimpong and Joe Gomez at right-back, and if Ryan Gravenberch returns should the midfield be reconfigured out of necessity or a first Premier League start is instead afforded teenager Trey Nyoni after a series of impressive cameos from the bench.
Wirtz key and City record poor
Much is likely to depend on Florian Wirtz, regardless of whether the 23-year-old operates as a false nine or in his regular number 10 slot. After forensic analysis of his start to the season sparked by a poor first half at Bournemouth three weeks ago, Wirtz was impressive when on Germany duty under Jurgen Klopp with Liverpool hopeful of benefiting from an increase in confidence.
While unbeaten, Iraola is still searching for a statement victory that would further cement his methods among the squad and in the stands. The uncertainty over how City's season might pan out means Liverpool need to be well placed to capitalise on any potential opening among the Premier League front-runners.
Their recent record against City, however, is poor. They were beaten three times last season - conceding nine goals and scoring just one - and have won only two of the previous nine meetings and five of the last 17. That said, the dramatic injury-time defeat in February at Anfield was the first time Liverpool had lost at home against the Etihad side in front of supporters since 2003.
Hostile atmosphere predicted
The Liverpool fanbase are likely to be pivotal once again in this fixture. “The atmosphere will be hostile, to say the least!” said former Reds striker Peter Crouch, speaking exclusively to Paddy Power.
“Liverpool pride themselves on being the biggest club in the country. The fact that they feel like they’ve been robbed of a few league titles won’t be received well by the fans. There’s usually a lot of hostility at that game anyway given the recent history, however there’s certainly that extra layer to it now. It’ll be interesting to see how the City fans react to it. I imagine they’ll be pretty disillusioned with what’s going on as well.”
Liverpool now need to ensure that remains the case come the final whistle on Sunday - but for entirely selfish reasons.
