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Manchester City-Liverpool Preview

Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and Manchester City will both limp into their Sunday meeting at Anfield following disappointing mid-week European outings.

Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool (13-6-7) have been in sparkling form in the league, winning five of their last six to extend an unbeaten league run that stretches back to December 14. However, Thursday saw the Reds' continental adventures end after being ousted by Turkish side Besiktas on penalties in their Europa League tie, which followed a pre-Christmas exit from the Champions League.

Liverpool are sixth going into Sunday's game, but just two points behind fourth-place Manchester United in the highly competitive race for those qualification spots.

"We need to recover and then go again on Sunday," Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet said. "Everyone is devastated to go out, especially like that at the end of 120 minutes. Having put so much effort into the game, it's a real disappointment to go out.

"I've always said when you win, when you lose, when you go through, when you go out, it's always as a squad. You are always together in good moments and bad moments. We have to look forward and prepare ourselves as best we can. It's another big game on Sunday and we need to try to get back to winning ways. We have to focus on the job in hand."

Sunday's visitors to Anfield were taken apart by Barcelona at the Etihad in midweek, but Manuel Pellegrini's Manchester City (16-7-3) escaped with just a 2-1 first-leg defeat from a game that could have been so much worse. City were completely outplayed in the first half and could have conceded many more than the two early goals. Even though City were much improved after the break, it still took Joe Hart's save from a stoppage-time penalty and an astonishing Lionel Messi miss on the follow-up to prevent City needing to go to the Camp Nou in search of three unanswered goals.

Pellegrini will be relieved by the return to domestic action, particularly after last weekend's results saw them close the gap on league-leaders Chelsea. With the Blues playing Tottenham in the League Cup final this weekend, City's trip to Merseyside gives them a chance to draw within just two points of the top of the table, which would heap even more pressure on the stumbling front-runners.

"It is important, more than psychologically it is important mathematically," Pellegrini said. "If we win, we are going to have three points more, we are going to go two points behind Chelsea because they do not play. Last season, I remember we were nine points behind Chelsea with three games in hand, but then you have the pressure to win those three games.

"It is very important to beat Liverpool because they are a strong team and Anfield is always a difficult stadium to play in. We need to continue the form we showed in our last two games in the Premier League against Stoke and Newcastle and continue fighting for the title to the last day because we have to play 36 points more, that is a lot of points and as soon as we close the gap it is better for us."

City will have had two more days to prepare for the Anfield game by the time the players emerge from the tunnel - a fact Pellegrini admits is "an advantage" - and City will also have a fully fit squad. Liverpool, in contrast, have a number of injury concerns. Glen Johnson, Jordan Henderson, Mamadou Sakho, Jose Enrique and Steven Gerrard are all doubts, while Lucas Leiva and Jon Flanagan remain out with groin and knee injuries, respectively.

It was a 3-1 City win when these teams met at the Etihad earlier in the season, but the Manchester club have never done the double over Liverpool. The last five games between the two have yielded 20 goals, with both teams scoring at least once in all five games.

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