The final Premier League fixture before the October international break takes place at 16:30 BST – and what a match it promises to be.
Liverpool versus Manchester City is perhaps the most anticipated clash of the season so far, with plenty of Fantasy interest in assets from both sides.
Despite suffering over 210,000 sales and a price drop in Fantasy Premier League this week, Sergio Aguero (£11.3m) is still owned by more than one in two Fantasy managers and has actually been captained by more FPL bosses than Eden Hazard (£11.2m) this weekend.
Aguero leads the line for City again this afternoon in a side that shows three changes from the team that started the win over Brighton in Gameweek 7.
John Stones (£5.3m) replaces Nicolas Otamendi (£6.1m) at centre-back, but the more noteworthy alterations to Pep Guardiola’s starting XI come on the left flank.
Benjamin Mendy (£6.2m), who has suffered over 1,375,000 sales in FPL since missing out in Gameweek 5, returns at left-back, with Oleksandr Zinchenko (£4.8m) missing out.
Mendy’s inclusion, as has often been the case in the past, means that Leroy Sane (£9.2m) drops to the bench, with Riyad Mahrez (£8.6m) coming into the side. Raheem Sterling (£11.1m), it is assumed, will move over to the left flank to play as an inverted winger in Sane’s stead.
Kevin De Bruyne (£9.7m) was rumoured to be in contention for this fixture but is not even among the City substitutes this afternoon. Ilkay Gundogan (£5.6m) also misses out with a hamstring complaint.
Mohamed Salah (£12.8m), Sadio Mane (£9.9m) and Roberto Firmino (£9.4m) all start for the Reds and indeed there is only one change to the starting XI from the side that drew with Chelsea last weekend: Trent Alexander-Arnold (£5.2m), who put in a sub-par display against Napoli in midweek, is replaced by Dejan Lovren (£4.9m).
Joe Gomez (£5.1m) will presumably move across to right-back in Alexander-Arnold’s absence.
Naby Keita (£7.3m) has recovered from a back spasm to take his place in the home dugout, meanwhile.
This fixture features the four most-sold FPL players of Gameweek 8: Salah, Mendy, Aguero and Mane.
Aguero and Liverpool’s front three all registered attacking returns in this corresponding fixture last season, with the hosts running out 4-3 winners in a thrilling match.
No Premier League club has registered more clean sheets than Liverpool and City (four each) this season, though, while City have conceded fewer “big chances” than any other top-flight side. Jurgen Klopp’s side have themselves only allowed six clear-cut opportunities.
Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson; Gomez, van Dijk, Lovren, Robertson; Milner, Henderson, Wijnaldum; Mane, Salah, Firmino.
Manchester City XI (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Stones, Laporte, Mendy; Fernandinho, Silva, Bernardo; Mahrez, Sterling, Aguero.
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