EPL: Liverpool Welcome Man City Amid Financial Firestorm

Super Sunday at Anfield has rarely carried this much weight. When Liverpool host Manchester City today at Anfield, the Premier League’s most bitter modern rivalry will collide with the biggest off-field scandal in the competition’s history.

Manchester City arrive on Merseyside as a club engulfed in crisis. An independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to serious financial breaches across nine seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18, concluding that the club’s owners disguised £830 million of their own money as sponsorship income.

The arrangements allowed City to overstate revenue and understate costs by more than £900 million, enabling them to appear compliant with Premier League and UEFA spending limits. City have formally appealed the verdict, maintaining their innocence and arguing the commission’s opinion contained “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact”. No sporting punishment has yet been imposed, but the atmosphere inside Anfield will be charged with a sense that this fixture now carries consequences beyond three points.

Andoni Iraola faces a selection headache of the most unwelcome kind. Liverpool must make at least two changes, with Cody Gakpo sidelined by an ankle injury and Alexander Isak ruled out with a thigh problem picked up during the international break. With Hugo Ekitike also a long-term absentee, all three of Liverpool’s natural centre-forwards are unavailable.

Manchester City will be without Phil Foden, who serves the final match of his three-match suspension following his red card in the Manchester derby. Nico O’Reilly withdrew from the England squad with an injury and is a major doubt, while Antoine Semenyo trained after treatment on a swollen leg and is expected to start. The biggest news for Enzo Maresca is the availability of Erling Haaland, who had been withdrawn as a precaution during Norway’s international fixture.

Manchester City have made a perfect start to the season under new boss Enzo Maresca, winning all five of their opening league fixtures to sit top of the table with 15 points. Liverpool remain unbeaten but have drawn three of their five matches, leaving them sixth on nine points, six behind City. Despite City’s form, Anfield has historically been a fortress in this fixture: Liverpool have lost just one of their last 22 Premier League home matches against Manchester City, winning 14 and drawing seven.

That sole defeat came in February 2021 when Liverpool hosted City as reigning champions. However, City have won the last two meetings between the sides, including a 4-0 FA Cup quarter-final victory in April 2026 and a 2-1 league win at Anfield in February.

With Liverpool stripped of their recognised strikers, the tactical battle becomes a fascinating subplot. Dominik Szoboszlai is likely to be key in linking midfield and attack, while Barcola’s versatility will be tested against City’s defensive organisation.

Form may count for little in a fixture overshadowed by the most seismic financial verdict in Premier League history. Whatever unfolds at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, the occasion feels bigger than three points—and both sides know it.