Manchester City v Liverpool betting preview: Free Premier League tips, analysis and predictions for Thursday as Pep Guardiola hosts Jurgen Klopp's champions

Recommended bets

1pt 12+ match corners at 7/4

1pt Man City (-2) to take more corners at evens

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Manchester City v Liverpool

• 2015 BST kick-off on Sky Sports Premier League
• Match Odds: Home - 21/20 | Draw - 14/5 | Away 9/4

Newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool will play for the first time since sealing the title. Who better to give them a guard of honour than Manchester City, their title rivals who have surrendered their crown after two years?

Pep Guardiola's side will not enjoy doing it and you can be sure that they will be back even stronger next season. This is their first chance to get some immediate revenge on Jurgen Klopp's side and to also bounce back from their defeat at Chelsea.

They do not lose too often and when they do, they usually come out firing in the next game, so hopefully we have a blockbuster rather than a dead rubber on Thursday evening.

Liverpool did their celebrating before returning to training on Saturday and Klopp will not let them take their foot off the gas just yet. Will they go for a points record? Or will they give youngsters a chance and rest their stars for next season? Who knows just yet, but they should be close to full strength for the short trip to the Etihad to face their rivals of recent years.

Deciding the outcome of this one can always be tricky. The last few years have brought a variety of results. Four wins for Liverpool in their last seven meetings (Premier League and Champions League), two for City (including a 5-0) and a draw, so Klopp has got the edge over Guardiola of late.

Liverpool being Liverpool, City being so good going forward yet still showing defensive frailties...from weighing up the various angles, it feels best that the betting is focused on markets which do not rely on the final outcome.

There are so many possible goalscorers too that the market has some attractive prices in, especially in the City camp - Riyad Mahrez at 5/2, Kevin De Bruyne 11/4, Bernardo Silva 4/1. So many. But the preference is to look at the corners.

These are two sides who make the top three for corners taken this season:

1. Man City (247)
2. Chelsea (213)
3. Liverpool (203)

City average around eight per game and with the chance creation, you can expect them to rack up a handful of set pieces at the Etihad. They had seven at Chelsea last week and in this reverse fixture at Anfield, City were ahead on corners 13-4.

Liverpool average just under seven but with their attack and City's shaky defence, they are going to get opportunities and surely pile on the pressure from set pieces. Providing it is not a match based on a midfield battle - October 2018's 0-0 at Anfield comes to mind - we could see plenty at both ends here.

Over 11.5 total match corners at a shade under 2/1 looks worth taking in that case, as does Man City -2 on the corner handicap at around evens. City are *usually* corner kings.

Guardiola's side, despite the defeat at Stamford Bridge, have looked sharp since returning from the enforced break. Defensive frailties were ultimately their undoing in London. They will have to be at their best at both ends for the full 90 against the champions here.

Prediction: Man City 1-1 Liverpool (Sky Bet odds: 13/2)

Best bets:

• 12+ corners at 7/4
• Man City (-2) to take more corners at evens

Last time they met: Fabinho's thunder bolt

Opta stats

• Manchester City have won their last two Premier League home games against Liverpool – they’ve not won three consecutively against the Reds since March 1937 (a run of four).
• Liverpool are looking to complete a Premier League double over Manchester City for just the third time, also doing so in 2005-06 and 2015-16.
• Liverpool have won just one of their last 10 Premier League away games against Man City (D3 L6), winning 4-1 in November 2015 in manager Jürgen Klopp’s first match against them.
• Man City’s only previous competitive matches in July were in qualifying for the 2008-09 UEFA Cup, winning 2-0 home and away against Faroese side EB/Streymur.
• This is Liverpool’s first competitive match in July since 2010, when they won 2-0 at Rabotnicki in Europa League qualifying.
• With seven games remaining, Liverpool have won the title earlier than any other team in top-flight history. The last team to lose a Premier League game in a season after they confirmed the title was Chelsea in May 2015 against West Brom – in games of this kind since, champion teams are unbeaten in 10 matches (W8 D2).
• Liverpool have won all three of their Premier League games played on Thursdays so far this season – before this term, they’d drawn three and lost three of their six Premier League games played on Thursday.
• In his managerial career, Man City boss Pep Guardiola has lost more games against Jürgen Klopp than he has any other manager (8), while against no side has he lost more games than he has against Liverpool (5, level with Manchester United and Chelsea). This will be the Spaniard’s 400th top-flight match as a manager (W305 D54 L40).
• Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah has been directly involved in 99 goals in just 114 Premier League appearances (73 goals, 26 assists). A goal or assist in this game would mean only Alan Shearer would have reached 100 goal involvements in fewer appearances (100).
• Pep Guardiola has lost as many top-flight league matches in his four seasons in the Premier League as Manchester City manager (P145 W107 D18 L20) as he lost in his previous seven seasons in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich in LaLiga and the Bundesliga (P254 W198 D36 L20).

Odds correct as of 1445 BST on 01/07/20

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