The Premier League rounds up its matchday 32 fixtures tonight as Manchester City face current Premier League champions, Liverpool, at the Etihad.
In the other fixture, Sheffield United, who is yet to win a game since the restart of football season, will entertain Jose Mourinho’s men at Bramall Lane.
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Team News
Manchester City vs Liverpool FC
Manchester City would have to do without suspended Fernandinho, who still has to complete a two-match ban.
Their talisman, Sergio Aguero, is out for the season while Eric Garcia could again be absent due to the head injury he suffered in the match against Arsenal.
Liverpool has no new injury concerns ahead of the match against City tonight but defender Joel Matip will miss the rest of the campaign because of a foot injury. Matip made an appearance in the Merseyside derby when Liverpool resumed their season on June 21 but has been sidelined since with a toe problem.
James Milner is back in training after a hamstring issue caused him to sit out the win over Crystal Palace.
Related: Match highlights: Chelsea vs West Ham and more plus Thursday fixtures [Video]
Stats and facts heading into the game
- Manchester City has won each of their last two Premier League home games against Liverpool but they’ve not won three consecutively against the Reds since March 1937 (a run of four).
- Liverpool is looking to complete a Premier League double over City for just the third time. They managed the feat in 2005-06 and 2015-16.
- Liverpool has won just one of their last 10 Premier League away games against City (D3 L6), winning 4-1 in November 2015 in manager Jürgen Klopp’s first match against them.
- 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 has already 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 has 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, City boss Pep Guardiola has lost more games against Jurgen Klopp than he has any other manager (eight), while against no side has he lost more games than he has against Liverpool (five, level with Manchester United and Chelsea). This will be the Spaniard’s 400th top-flight match as a manager (W305 D54 L40).
- 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 La Liga and the Bundesliga (P254 W198 D36 L20).
Prediction: Manchester City 1 – 3 Liverpool (Liverpool win)
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Sheffield United vs Tottenham Hotspur
Sheffield United’s midfielder, John Lundstram, who has been one of their inspirational players this season is a doubt for tonight game because of the shoulder injury that forced him off against Arsenal on Sunday.
Defender Jack O’Connell is nearing a return after sitting out all four of their matches since the restart with a knee issue.
Tottenham head coach, Jose Mourinho, is still without Japhet Tanganga, who has a back injury and fellow defender Juan Foyth also remains on the sidelines.
Stats and Facts heading into the game
- Sheffield United are unbeaten in their last five top-flight home games against Spurs (W3 D2) since a 1-2 loss in December 1975.
- Tottenham have won their last four Premier League games in Yorkshire, and are unbeaten in their last seven in the county (W6 D1) since a 1-2 loss to Sheffield United in February 2007.
- Tottenham’s last competitive match in July was in the 1995 Intertoto Cup, with the London side losing 0-8 to FC Köln in Germany.
- Tottenham have never lost in 12 previous Premier League games played on Thursdays (W7 D5), the best unbeaten record on a single day of the week for a club in the competition.
- Sheffield United have failed to score in their last three Premier League games (D1 L2). They haven’t failed to score in four consecutive league games since April 2000 under Neil Warnock.
- Having conceded 3+ goals in just one of their first 29 Premier League games this season, Sheffield United have lost both of their last two by a 0-3 scoreline. The Blades have only lost three consecutive league matches under Chris Wilder once previously, losing three in a row in December 2017 in the Championship.
- Sheffield United have failed to have more than one shot on target in any of their three Premier League matches since the season resumed.
- Tottenham Hotspur are unbeaten in their last 23 Premier League away games against newly-promoted teams (W19 D4), since a 0-1 defeat to QPR in April 2012.
- Tottenham manager, José Mourinho, has won 199 of his 324 Premier League games in charge. Victory here will see him become the fifth manager to register 200 wins in the competition, with only Alex Ferguson reaching the milestone in fewer games (322).
- Tottenham striker Harry Kane has scored 198 goals in 345 games in all competitions at club level in his career (five for Leyton Orient, nine for Millwall, two for Leicester and 182 for Tottenham). Kane has also scored 10 goals in just nine appearances in Yorkshire – however, Sheffield United are the only side Kane has faced in the Premier League without scoring against.
Prediction: Sheffield United 1 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur (Draw)
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