Manchester City will run out at Anfield on Sunday into an atmosphere of hostility and toxicity unlike anything they have known, in their first league match since being found guilty of all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial rules between 2009-10 and 2017-18.
If there is a club City would rather avoid immediately after such a verdict, it is Liverpool. City arrive still insisting on their innocence, having launched an appeal against the decision of the independent commission that delivered the guilty verdict, arguing the ruling contained “clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe”. The commission, by contrast, used the word “sham” eight times in describing City’s dealings, including the artificial inflation of revenue by more than £900m through what it called “sham” deals.
City also arrive top of the table. But the Premier League is still weighing up the club’s punishment, with the appeal running alongside it, and the discussion has extended to expulsion, relegation and record points deductions. That process is expected to be lengthy, and it leaves every City victory carrying a qualification, every league table holding an unseen asterisk and every achievement viewed through the prism of potential future penalties — along with the unusual suggestion that the entire season could be rendered meaningless.
The backdrop is a rivalry that has been fractious for more than a decade. Liverpool finished second behind City in 2013/14, 2018/19 and 2021/22, the last two by a single point, and with Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp in charge the fixture became the defining domestic rivalry of recent years. Liverpool supporters have long believed those titles would have been theirs without the financial firepower that brought City under investigation, while City fans point instead to the brilliance of the teams Guardiola produced.
City’s new head coach Enzo Maresca, who inherited both Guardiola’s legacy and the fallout from the verdict, was calm as he faced a barrage of questions before the game, stressing that he was there to preview a match against Liverpool. “The reason I joined this club is that I completely trust, 100%, the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, all the organisation. So I don’t have doubt about that,” he said. “It will be a tough game, for sure. We need to be ready, the focus needs to be about the game, but we know the environment at Anfield. It probably will be worse because of the situation but, again, it will be our duty to do our best and try to win the game. The reason I decide to become manager is for this type of game.” He placed the emphasis on “when” City win their appeal.
Former England striker Alan Shearer told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport that the delay in resolving the case was damaging. “I just think it’s such a bad look that we’re still having to wait for the consequences,” he said. “We’ve never seen anything like this. This is the biggest thing to happen to the Premier League since it started in 1992, that’s how big it is. Credibility matters.” He added that City were “about to find out the anger from every club, starting at Anfield”, and warned that the issue needed sorting out now because the club had spent heavily in the summer and won every game. “They could end up winning the league. That’s why it needs sorting out now because it’s such a bad look if it’s allowed to fester,” he said, adding that the level of hostility would rise wherever City go.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola, preparing for his first experience of this meeting of Premier League superpowers, admitted the uncertainty is the hardest part. “The worst thing probably is the uncertainty. No-one knows what’s going to happen. We have to focus on Liverpool and being the best club we can be, the best team we can be. That’s my challenge,” he said.
Former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis, writing in his BBC Sport column, argued for a siege mentality in response to the situation, saying he loved being the underdog and proving people wrong. “That is what I would demand now – a siege mentality from my squad and supporters alike to prove to people that, irrespective of what is happening off the pitch, on the field and the terraces we respect our club and we are going to fight on,” he wrote. In what is sure to be a powder-keg atmosphere inside and outside Anfield, Merseyside Police have said an “appropriate” plan will be in place.
Security around the fixture will draw particular scrutiny given the events before a Champions League quarter-final at Anfield in April 2018, when City’s team bus was attacked with bottles and flares as it arrived. Merseyside Police were unable to identify those responsible despite viewing 130 hours of footage from the disorder, and Liverpool were subsequently fined £17,500 by Uefa.
For Maresca and his players, Anfield — always a cauldron when they visit — now presents the ultimate mental, physical and footballing examination, with the club shrouded in uncertainty and under threat of future Premier League punishment. City’s insistence that they will clear their name will not soften the reception awaiting them, and the Kop is in no mood to wait for legal finalities or the outcome of an appeal.