First meets second on Saturday lunchtime as the Premier League resumes following the third international break of the season, with Manchester City and Liverpool battling for supremacy - and top spot in the table - at the Etihad Stadium.
Pep Guardiola's men went into the hiatus holding a one-point advantage in first place owing to their captivating 4-4 draw with Chelsea two weekends ago, where former youth product Cole Palmer denied them all three points deep into stoppage time.
Prior to the Stamford Bridge extravaganza, Liverpool had closed the gap on the champions owing to a 3-0 win over Brentford, where Mohamed Salah's brace preceded a Diogo Jota strike to leave Jurgen Klopp's men within touching distance of their bitter adversaries.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the head-to-head record and previous meetings between the two sides.
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Head-to-head record
Previous meetings: 224
Man City wins: 60
Draws: 56
Liverpool wins: 108
A fixture that has by and large been dominated by Liverpool down the years, the Reds have 108 wins to show from 224 previous contests with the Citizens, who in turn boast 60 successes against their Merseyside counterparts, in addition to 56 draws.
However, two of those wins for the Manchester giants have come in their last two meetings with Liverpool, who were taught a footballing lesson in a 4-1 Etihad romping in April, prior to which their EFL Cup defence also came to an end on the Citizens' turf 11 months ago.
Despite seeing his side come out on the wrong end of the scoreline on both occasions, Mohamed Salah netted in Liverpool's two visits to the Etihad last season to take his overall tally against Man City to 11 goals and five assists from 19 matches across all tournaments; only against Manchester United (12) has the Egyptian netted more.
Salah had come up with the only goal of an ill-tempered contest when Liverpool beat City 1-0 at Anfield in October 2022, and the 31-year-old - who needs one more goal to hit the 150 mark in the Premier League - has now scored or assisted in each of his last six Premier League games against Guardiola's team.
The one-goal Anfield success marked a third consecutive win for Liverpool over Man City in 2022, where the Reds also bested their foes in the FA Cup semi-finals and Community Shield, and not since losing four in a row between 1935 and 1937 have they been subjected to back-to-back league losses to the reigning champions.
Trips to the Etihad prove unfruitful more often than not for Liverpool, though, as they have failed to win any of their last seven Premier League away games against Man City, whose most recent home loss to the Reds in any tournament came in the 2017-18 Champions League quarter-finals.
In fact, only one of Liverpool's last 14 Premier League visits to Man City has seen the Reds come up trumps, which came a matter of weeks after Klopp was hired to replace Brendan Rodgers in late 2015, as Manuel Pellegrini's Citizens suffered a 4-1 humbling.
Martin Skrtel, Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and an Eliaquim Mangala own goal all contributed to an astounding Liverpool victory in what was only Klopp's eighth game in charge of the club in all tournaments, but the Reds have to go even further back - 2010 to be exact - for their last Premier League clean sheet versus Man City at the Etihad.
Last 20 meetings:
Apr 01, 2023: Man City 4-1 Liverpool (Premier League)
Dec 22, 2022: Man City 3-2 Liverpool (EFL Cup Round of 16)
Oct 16, 2022: Liverpool 1-0 Man City (Premier League)
Jul 30, 2022: Liverpool 3-1 Man City (Community Shield Final)
Apr 16, 2022: Man City 2-3 Liverpool (FA Cup Semi-Finals)
Apr 10, 2022: Man City 2-2 Liverpool (Premier League)
Oct 03, 2021: Liverpool 2-2 Man City (Premier League)
Feb 07, 2021: Liverpool 1-4 Man City (Premier League)
Nov 08, 2020: Man City 1-1 Liverpool (Premier League)
Jul 02, 2020: Man City 4-0 Liverpool (Premier League)
Nov 10, 2019: Liverpool 3-1 Man City (Premier League)
Aug 04, 2019: Liverpool 1-1 Man City (Community Shield)
Jan 03, 2019: Man City 2-1 Liverpool (Premier League)
Oct 07, 2018: Liverpool 0-0 Man City (Premier League)
Apr 10, 2018: Man City 1-2 Liverpool (Champions League Quarter-Finals)
Apr 04, 2018: Liverpool 3-0 Man City (Champions League Quarter-Finals)
Jan 14, 2018: Liverpool 4-3 Man City (Premier League)
Sep 09, 2017: Man City 5-0 Liverpool (Premier League)
Mar 19, 2017: Man City 1-1 Liverpool (Premier League)
Dec 31, 2016: Liverpool 1-0 Man City (Premier League)
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Ben Knapton
