By Gary Fulcher, Daniel Rhodes and Mihail Vladimirov.

The two best sides from last season clash in the first big blockbuster of this season when Liverpool travel to the Etihad Stadium on Monday evening – 8pm kick off UK time – where champions Manchester City lie in wait. The Reds face a tough task as we are winless in this fixture from our last five visits – two draws, three defeats – with one of those defeats (a 2-1 loss) suffered in the corresponding fixture last season.

The two sides have met at this stage of the season on 11 occasions (three times in the Premier League):  2012/13 at Anfield with the score ending 2-2, 2010/11 at COMS with Liverpool losing 0-3, 2004/05 at Anfield with Liverpool winning 2-1, 1991/92 where we lost 1-2 at Maine Road, 1986/87 a 0-0 draw at Anfield, 1969/70 with Liverpool winning 3-2 at Anfield, 1966/67 losing 1-2 at Maine Road, 1962/63 a 2-2 draw at Maine Road, 1935/36 losing 0-2 at Anfield, 1934/35 suffering a 1-3 defeat at Maine Road and 1921/22 winning 3-2 at Anfield.

City started their title defence with a 2-0 victory against Newcastle Utd at St James’ Park last weekend, while Liverpool secured a 2-1 win over Southampton at Anfield, with Daniel Sturridge scoring the winner. That was his 36th goal in his first 50 games in a Red shirt (32 goals from just 44 league appearances), a phenomenal record by any standard and one that should see Sturridge receive far more recognition outside of Anfield than he currently does.

If as is expected Steven Gerrard features on Monday evening, he will make his 26th appearance against Manchester City, more than any other Red, while he just needs one more goal to move him into the top five Liverpool players with the most goals scored against City – he’s currently one behind Roger Hunt’s tally of seven.

The rest of this article is for subscribers only.

[ttt-subscribe-article]