Manchester City visit Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in their first game since the independent commission's guilty verdict, with both sides showing tactical vulnerabilities that could decide the match.
City's defensive frailties
Seven straight wins in all competitions had Enzo Maresca's Manchester City off to a flier before the international break, top of the table and addressing fears of a drop-off after the departure of Pep Guardiola. That on-pitch narrative has been swallowed up along with everything else in the world of football, as City were hit with the independent commission's guilty verdict.
What version of Manchester City shows up against Liverpool will say a lot about Maresca's new-look group of players. The same can be said for Maresca's opposite number, Andoni Iraola. Having replaced Slot in the summer, Iraola has guided the Reds through an unbeaten start to the season, but Florian Wirtz is still yet to click and questions remain over the make-up of Liverpool's midfield.
Liverpool are still very much a work in progress, while City's 5-3 win over Sunderland revealed defensive kinks that will need to be ironed out. The gaps between the full-backs on both sides and their respective centre-backs were exploited relentlessly by Sunderland, both for that goal - which came from a lofted ball over the top of Nunes from Granit Xhaka to find Nilson Angulo - and for the first equaliser, in which Brobbey was played in with a ball between Nunes and Ruben Dias after Enzo Le Fee had evaded Enzo Fernandez.
Midfield battles and key duels
The main difference with Liverpool on the ball this season since the arrival of Iraola has been the speed with which they look to move the ball through the lines of attack - and linked to that is the aggression with which they look to win the ball back to sustain attacks. Jeremy Jacquet and Alexis Mac Allister both rank in the top 15% of Premier League players in their position for line-breaking passes per 90, and Jacquet's composure from the back allows his well-timed interventions to become creative situations.
Though Liverpool are actually winning possession in the final third less often (3.6 times per 90) than last season (4.1), they are winning it more often in midfield (19.2 times per 90, compared to 18.5 last season). That is a result of Iraola's man-to-man press compressing the pitch and offering opponents less time and space on the ball.
Line-breaking passes are a major strength of City's, too - no player in the Premier League has averaged more per 90 than Elliot Anderson's 22.8 - but City have looked vulnerable when defending against direct, central attacking moves as they continue to adapt to Maresca's tactical tweaks. While Matheus Nunes, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O'Reilly and Rico Lewis are all tactically-versatile players, none are defence-first options without obvious weaknesses.
Nunes makes an average of 1.21 tackles per 90 (21st percentile), but is dribbled past 0.85 times per 90 (44th percentile). Gvardiol is a stronger one-v-one defender on the opposite side, making nearly double the number of tackles (2.28) while being dribbled past half as often (0.41), but has struggled at times with more physical tasks, winning just 45.8% of his aerial duels.
Set-piece and long-ball threats
Another strength of Liverpool's corresponds with a notable weakness of City's - long balls. The Reds are second in the league behind Sunderland for successful long balls this season (28.6 per 90). Marcus Tavernier's goal for Bournemouth in their 2-1 defeat at the Etihad in August came after Dias and Khusanov failed to deal with a long ball played quickly after winning it back, much as former Bournemouth boss Iraola is now coaching Liverpool to do.
City are ranked 18th in the league for xG conceded from set pieces (2.1), so can arguably count themselves lucky to have only conceded once from such situations this season. Liverpool are yet to score from a set-piece in the league this season, but have created chances worth 2.0 xG so far - and City will need to stay switched on to ensure that duck isn't broken on Sunday.
For City, Enzo Fernandez has typically started in a deeper role alongside Anderson, before pushing up to support the attack. He completes an average of 13.52 line-breaking passes per 90 (97th percentile), but has only made an average of 0.99 tackles per 90 (18th percentile) and has been dribbled past 1.65 times per 90 (7th percentile). Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai, operating in a deeper role as part of a double pivot with Mac Allister, ranks in just the 31st percentile of Premier League midfielders for tackles per 90 and the 49th percentile for interceptions, along with winning a meek 33.3% of his duels.
Cherki and Haaland key for City
Maresca's side have averaged 63.1% possession this season - a 2.6% increase on last season - while expected goals (xG: 2.1) and big chances (3.4) per 90 have seen an uptick. Crossing has notably become more prevalent for City: they are averaging 5.2 crosses per 90, more than all but three sides in the league. Erling Haaland is capable of beating most centre-backs in the air (winning 52.9% of his aerial duels this season).
Rayan Cherki is City's creator-in-chief, the joint-third top goalscorer in the league with three and has created the most chances (12) of any player in sky blue this season. With the way that Iraola instructs his centre-backs to press man-to-man, Jacquet or Ronald Araujo will likely be tasked with dealing with the No. 10 before he can turn.
For Liverpool, set-pieces will provide opportunities to score if Liverpool can earn enough of them. With Szoboszlai's delivery among the best in the league, and van Dijk, Jacquet and Araujo probably the strongest trio of defensive aerial threats in the league, the Reds have tools the quality of which City have not yet had to face this season.
