Liverpool head to the Etihad tonight to take on the reigning champions, Manchester City, where, based on last season’s run-in, the championship could be decided. Liverpool have been extremely busy in the transfer window and boast a rejuvenated lineup with no less than nine new signings so far, following the extremely lucrative departure of Luis Suarez to Barca, with the signing of Mario Balotelli pretty much a foregone conclusion.

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Liverpool manager Rodgers has vowed to put last season’s heartbreaking results behind them, insisting instead that his squad will use it as a source of inspiration, with the Ulsterman saying:
“It?s one of the things from last season which really drives me on for this season. In the week leading into the last game of the season when you still have a chance of winning the title, you had to look at the pitch organization for a trophy presentation and sort out plans for what to do if you win the title. I had to sit there knowing that our chance had probably slipped away.

But I still had to go through it with delegates from the club and look at how it would be if we won the title. Walking up the champions? carpet, on to the podium, how it all looks. It was something that out of choice I probably wouldn’t have done but I wanted to do it in the end because it?s a great motivation and a way of inspiring you for the future.”
City are consigned to duty without Eliaquim Mangala who is still working on his fitness levels. Frank Lampard will make the squad alongside Sergio Aguero with Alvaro Negredo still out of the running. Manager Pellegrini has also been busy in this transfer window bringing in Mangala, Caballero, Fernando, Sagna and Lampard. But his dealings haven’t been the only focus in the run up to tonight’s game, with the Chilean having quite a bit to say about Liverpool in the media over the last weeks. Perhaps it is Liverpool’s success on the road over the last season that has driven him to register such statements as “Liverpool cracked [under the pressure last season]” and “Steven Gerrard’s slip was not the reason Liverpool conceded the title. We were just better.”

Whatever the reason for his words, the Liverpool camp has been resoundingly silent, Rodgers refusing to be drawn into such mind games, focusing as always on “the next three points”. Expect a cauldron of noise at the Etihad this evening, as last season’s century-scoring, top two finishing teams battle it out in what is sure to be an indicator for the rest of the campaign.

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Possible line ups

Manchester City (possible; 4-4-2): J Hart — A Kolarov, V Kompany, M Demichelis, P, Zabaleta — S Nasri, Fernandinho, Y Touré, D Silva — E Dzeko, S Agüero.

Liverpool (possible; 4-2-3-1): S Mignolet — G Johnson, M Skrtel, D Lovren, A Moreno — S Gerrard, J Allen — J Henderson, P Coutinho, R Sterling — D Sturridge.