"City is getting cooked", "What a team" - Liverpool fans react as Arne Slot names 'strong' XI to face Manchester City

Liverpool fans are rejoicing on X after Arne Slot named his starting XI to face Manchester City. The two sides are set to face each other in the Premier League at Anfield later today (Sunday, December 1).

Caoimhin Kelleher starts in goal for the Reds. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, and Andy Robertson make up the defense with Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate missing out due to injury.

The midfield consists of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, and Dominik Szoboszlai. Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah, and Luis Diaz start up front to complete the starting XI with Darwin Nunez being named on the bench.

Liverpool fans have been left pleased upon seeing Alexander-Arnold's return to the starting XI after recovering from a hamstring injury. Moreover, Diaz starts in the No. 9 role, a position where he scored a memorable hat-trick during the Reds' 4-0 UCL win against Bayer Leverkusen earlier this month.

One fan posted:

"What a team. Trent back in and Diaz at the 9. Let’s go 11 points clear of our title contendors."

Another fan tweeted:

"City is getting cooked."

Other fans reacted below:

"Liverpool lineup strong gannn," one fan commented.

"Now, this is how you select a world class lineup against a past glory champion," another added.

"Team is stronger than city," one fan pointed out.

"In Slot we believe. lets go Reds!!" another tweeted.

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"It looked like they’d never played football before" - Mark Lawrenson makes scoreline prediction for Liverpool vs Manchester City

Former Liverpool star Mark Lawrenson has predicted the Reds to comfortably defeat Manchester City in their upcoming Premier League clash.

Arne Slot and company have exceeded expectations this season and sit at the summit of the league table with 31 points from 12 games, six points ahead of second-placed Arsenal. A win at Anfield today would see their lead over Manchester City extend to 11 points.

Meanwhile, the Cityzens have stuttered in recent weeks without Rodri's presence, and are winless in their last six games across competitions. Moreover, they have won just one league game at Anfield from their last 21 visits, drawing seven, and losing 13, with their last victory coming in February 2021.

Lawrenson wrote (via Paddy Power News):

"It’s absolutely amazing what’s happening at Manchester City. If you had said a few weeks ago that they were going to lose five on the bounce in all competitions and then what happened on Tuesday… what odds would you have got on the draw after 75 minutes? Absolutely crazy. City were hopeless, it looked like they’d never played football before. It was like, what?"

He added:

"Even when City are playing well they don’t win many games at Anfield. They can turn it around but I’m going for a comfortable Liverpool win. Everything Liverpool touches turns to gold at the moment. I was there for the win over Real Madrid and they were just fab."

Lawrenson's Prediction: 2-0