Manchester City vs Liverpool: predictions and betting tips on the EFL Cup match on December 22, 2022
On December 22, Etihad Stadium (Manchester) will host the 1/8 final match of the EFL Cup, in which Manchester City will compete with Liverpool. The battle will start at 21:00 CET.
Manchester City
The club claims to be the strongest. Recently, under the rule of Guardiola, this status is closely connected to victories in the Premier League – Liverpool was able to take the 1st place only once. But one way or another, Pep is defeated in the Champions League. And it is a great question what is more offensive: to lose in the long-awaited final, being the favourite, or to lose a huge advantage over Real Madrid that happened last spring. Well, this time there is Haaland, who scores even more than expected – is this aspect supposed to be a key one in the battle for the Carabao Cup? On the other hand, their game is full of misfires this season – in comparison with Arsenal, the club faces this winter with “-5 points” in the current Premier League table.
Liverpool
The team became one of the greatest disappointments at the start of last season. Perhaps it happened because the progress in 2021/2022 and cup victories were “thrown away” by the most important matches for the 1st place in the Premier League and the Champions League final, which were lost by “the Reds”. At the same time, the team seems to become weaker in the transfer market after the exchange of Mane for Darwin Nunez in the summer and without solving the urgent problem of the central midfielder. As a result, having started with winning the Super Cup, the Merseysiders made a pause being in the 6th place in the table. Everyone expects that Jurgen Klopp, having worked on problems which are not few and taking into account his experience, will significantly add this month. Still, only official matches will show whether the expectations for the fast progress of Liverpool are justified.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Liverpool, without paying attention to the problems, managed not to lose to Manchester City in the last five matches. Moreover, three times in a row, “the Reds” were able to beat the “the Citizens”.
Predictions
Bookmakers think that it is high time for Guardiola to beat Klopp finally. The conditions are pretty favourable, we dare to believe that Manchester City will win the game (odds: 1.81).