Liverpool v City preview

[bbc sport preview, MEN preview, we've got robinho preview, this is anfield preview]

Statistics generally don't lie, an all signs point to tomorrow being a difficult afternoon for us.

No win in ten on the road, no wins in five following European games and being unable to rescue games from a losing position this season don't readily point to a likely three points. Coupled with all that is a fairly miserable return from Anfield over the past decade or so.

Mark Hughes faces a tricky decision now that Richard Dunne returns from suspension, but his decision could be made easier by the fact that Shaun Wright-Phillips is unavailable.

This, however, would give us a very defensive looking side, with presumably Bellamy operating on his own up front, supported by Robinho and Ireland with the solid trio of Kompany, de Jong and Zabaleta trying to 'win' the midfield battle. This could be made easier of course with the absence of Gerrard and Alonso from the Liverpool side but I wonder if Hughes may be tempted to bring in Caicedo or Evans, with Bellamy and Robinho in support in wider roles, especially given these comments:

"If you give us room we are a team that has goals in us, but if teams sit back and frustrate us we don't seem to deal with that as well. "Liverpool are going for their own competitions and their own challenges. "They will want to win the game and put the onus on attacking. Hopefully that will leave the door open for us to exploit the spaces."

Liverpool of course have Champions League tie against Real Madrid in midweek, so the potential for one eye to be in Spain is a possibility. Of course though, they will also know United's result from the weekend by the time we kick off, which could provide some added pressure.

There were some encouraging signs from Thursday night's performance in Denmark, yet some of the more frustrating frailties (lapses in concentration, inability to close out a game) still remain.

As we saw from the game earlier this season, so much for Liverpool depends on Fernando Torres. If we can keep him in check tomorrow, then I feel we can definitely come away with a point from Anfield tomorrow.

Game notes:

• Liverpool are yet to lose at home in any competition this season.
• Liverpool have drawn every game in which they have failed to score this season.
• We have failed to beat Liverpool in the last seven contests.