Haaland and Rodri amongst five changes to City side for Liverpool trip

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Manchester City F.C.

·8 February 2026

Haaland and Rodri amongst five changes to City side for Liverpool trip

Pep Guardiola has made five changes to his City side for this afternoon's Premier League clash with Liverpool.

Men's Team

OneFootball Videos

Analysing Liverpool ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Marc Guéhi, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland come in to the side that beat Newcastle United on Wednesday night.

James Trafford, Nathan Ake, Nico, Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders move to the bench at Anfield.

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City go into the game second in the Premier League and looking to cut the deficit to leaders Arsenal back down to six points.

Defending champions Liverpool started the day sixth, eight points behind City ahead of kick-off.

Teams

CITY XI: Donnarumma, Nunes, Khusanov, Guéhi, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Bernardo (c), O’Reilly, Semenyo, Marmoush, Haaland

Subs: Trafford, Dias, Reijnders, Ake, Cherki, Nico, Foden, Alleyne, Lewis

LIVERPOOL XI: Alisson, Szoboszlai, Konate, van Dijk, Kerkez, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Wirtz, Gakpo, Ekitike

Subs: Mamardashvili, Woodman, Endo, Chiesa, Jones, Robertson, Nyoni, Ramsay, Ngumoha

Men's Team

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Tactics

Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal will be protected by a back four of Matheus Nunes, Abdukodir Khusanov, Marc Guéhi and Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Rodri, Nico O’Reilly and captain Bernardo Silva will be in the engine room, with Antoine Semenyo and Omar Marmoush in support of central striker Erling Haaland.

Anfield form

It’s no secret that Liverpool’s home ground has not historically been our favourite place to visit.

We’ve won just twice there in the Premier League era, in 2003 and 2021.

That win in February 2021 was the last time we went to Anfield when the hosts were defending champions though, so could that be an omen that points to better luck this afternoon?

Following the 3-0 win at the Etihad in November, we are looking to complete our first league double over Liverpool since 1936/37.

Men's Team

How can I watch Liverpool v City on TV?

Match stats

Liverpool have lost just one of their last 22 Premier League home games against Manchester City (W14 D7), with that defeat coming the only time they hosted them as reigning champions (1-4 in February 2021).
Liverpool lost 3-0 in the reverse fixture against Manchester City – the last team to beat them twice to nil in the same Premier League campaign was West Ham United in 2015/16.
Only Liverpool (9) and Manchester United (7) have won more away games against reigning Premier League champions than Manchester City (6), winning five of our last six visits (L1).
From MD6 to MD12 this season, Liverpool lost more Premier League games than any other club (P7 W1 L6); since MD13, no side has lost fewer games than the Reds (P12 W5 D6 L1).
We are the only Premier League side in 2026 so far who have not conceded a single goal in the first half of a match, scoring six times ourselves. However, we are also the only side who haven’t scored a second half goal yet, conceding six goals.
Anfield is one of just two grounds Erling Haaland has played at but not scored in the competition, along with Sunderland’s Stadium of Light (one appearance).