Man City chasing first Anfield win for 15 years

Pep Guardiola inspired Manchester City to success last season, but victory at Anfield continued to elude him against old foe Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp has a fantastic record against Guardiola stemming back to their time as Bundesliga rivals in charge of Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively.

The German led Liverpool to Premier League and Champions League wins at home to City in 2018, despite Guardiola's side demolishing records in a stunning domestic campaign.

The teams are locked together on 19 points ahead of this weekend's blockbuster clash, with Liverpool and City both yet to taste defeat in the Premier League season.

Something has to give on Sunday, though, and the history books suggest the Premier League champions are facing a tough test.

Head-to-head record and biggest wins

City last won at Anfield over 15 years ago in May 2003, losing 12 and drawing five of the subsequent 17 meetings on Merseyside.

That 2-1 victory, thanks to a late Nicolas Anelka brace, stands as the Blues' only triumph in 21 Premier League attempts at Anfield. The overall Premier League head-to-head stands at 19-8 to Liverpool, with 15 draws.

City won 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium in September 2017, when Sadio Mane's early red card for a high challenge on City goalkeeper Ederson had a huge impact on the result.

That five-star showing last season is City's biggest Premier League win over Liverpool, who beat them 6-0 on Merseyside in October 1995. City had already lost 4-0 at Anfield earlier that week in the League Cup, too.

But City have already lost twice at Anfield this year, going down 4-3 in a January thriller despite a late rally before the rampant Reds blew them away 3-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

You have to go back to 1936-37 for the only time City have completed a double over Liverpool. They finished that season as champions.

Top scorers

Liverpool great Ian Rush scored eight times in as many Premier League games against City for the best return in the fixture.

City's all-time record scorer Sergio Aguero is next on the list with six, tellingly, all of the Argentina international's goals against the 'Reds' have come at the Etihad Stadium.

Aguero, incidentally, has moved on to 148 Premier League goals for the club, putting him in sight of a notable personal landmark ahead of the trip to Anfield this weekend.

Michael Owen hit five in just four games for Liverpool versus City, including a hat-trick in September 2002 at Maine Road.

Rangers boss Steven Gerrard and Philippe Coutinho, who left Liverpool for Barcelona in January, are among a cluster of players with four Premier League goals in the game.

Most appearances and a foot in both camps

Long-serving captain and crowd hero Gerrard played 23 Premier League games against City in his Liverpool career, with Jamie Carragher next up on 18 appearances.

Joe Hart's 15 games against the 'Reds' is the most for any City player in this fixture, the same as Martin Skrtel and one shy of fellow goalkeeper Pepe Reina.

James Milner featured 14 times for City against the Reds but is in contention to line-up on the opposite side this weekend having been one of the stars of the 2018-19 season so far.

Milner is one of 14 players to have represented both clubs in England's top flight. Anelka has done too, and his strike partner in City’s last Anfield triumph in the Premier League was Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler.

Raheem Sterling is the latest attacking talent to have both clubs on his CV, joining Craig Bellamy, Nigel Clough, Steve McManaman and Mark Kennedy.

Albert Riera, Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli and Kolo Toure all turned out for City before ending up at Anfield, while Dietmar Hamann and David James were Liverpool players who later donned City colours.