Man City Head to Anfield – the Worst Place They Could Possibly Go After All That’s Happened

Manchester City always get a rough reception at Anfield, but this weekend, Liverpool fans will surely be even less welcoming.

With all that’s gone on in the past couple of weeks, Manchester City’s players could have been forgiven for hoping to make an inconspicuous return to the pitch.

But rather than going straight back to the sanctity of the Etihad Stadium, they face arguably the most intimidating trip imaginable, to the bearpit that is Anfield.

The players and new manager Enzo Maresca are caught at the centre of one of the biggest storms British sport has ever seen, after City were found guilty by an independent commission of all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons, and the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the league’s investigation. City deny all the allegations and have appealed against the charges.

But following the verdict, there is going to be a sizeable and unavoidable backlash. Many other clubs and their fans feel aggrieved that they lost out on trophies, prize money, league positions, signings and more to a club who have been found guilty of operating outside of rules that they were following and restricted by.

Liverpool will feel that they are among the clubs to have most reason to feel hard done by, having missed out on the title to City in 2013-14 and the League Cup in 2015-16. Since the 2009-2018 period for which City have been charged – a time during which there is no accusation of cheating – Liverpool also finished second to them in 2018-19 and 2021-22, with mammoth points totals of 97 and 92 respectively. Their fans have missed out on a lot of joy to City over the years, and may well feel some bitterness towards them.

Anfield has always been a notoriously difficult place for visiting teams to go to anyway, and at least some part of that is down to the atmosphere created. The fans are often said to be among the loudest in the world, and the atmosphere is roundly thought of as among the very best.

Speaking to BBC Sport in 2021, former Man City defender Micah Richards said as much. “When you’re playing, you feel confident, but when you go to Anfield it is like you have your legs on backwards,” he said. “You cannot play a simple ball. It is like a fortress. I never had a great memory from Liverpool. They were just too good.”

And in 2020, France Football ranked Anfield second in the world to Boca Juniors’ Bombonera in a list of the grounds with the best atmospheres in football.

As the COVID-affected Premier League 2020-21 season proved, home crowds make a difference, and the impact of the Liverpool fanbase showed in their results.

Though they have consistently been at the very least a good team, Liverpool have not been the outright best side for much of the Premier League era, and yet away sides have a lower win percentage at Anfield (12.5%) than at any other stadium in Premier League history. Liverpool have lost just 82 of their 654 games there in the competition, with visitors averaging a paltry 0.62 points per game.

There are many teams who struggle at Anfield. Newcastle have won only one and lost 25 of their 31 Premier League trips there, giving them a loss rate of 80.6%. West Ham have won only one of 30 games and Spurs have won just two of 34. Six teams have lost every single one of their games away to Liverpool in the Premier League.

This Sunday was always going to be a tough assignment for City. When the fixture list for the season was confirmed in the summer, Maresca would have circled this as one to have his eye on, facing an opponent who could well be a title rival. Or, at the very least, provide one of the biggest tests of City’s title credentials.

That is because City, like so many others, also have a dreadful record at Anfield. It’s not quite as terrible as the teams mentioned above, but it isn’t great and doesn’t bode well for them for Sunday.

Of grounds City have played at more than once, they only have a worse points-per-game rate at Highbury (0.22) than they do at Anfield (0.59), and they have played more than three times as many games at Liverpool’s home (29) as they have at Arsenal’s old ground (9).

They also played at Highbury back when, well, they weren’t very good at all, while their visits to Anfield have included the entire Sheikh Mansour era.

In total, City have won only three of their 29 Premier League trips to Anfield, giving them one of their worst win rates (10.3%) at any stadium. They have also lost 18 of those games, meaning at Anfield, they boast one of their worst loss rates (62.1%) as well.

They did win there last season, though, coming from behind with two late goals to snatch a 2-1 win, but that came with Liverpool at a particularly low ebb, during a run of one win in seven games as their title defence fell to pieces.

City also won at Anfield in February 2021, in the COVID season during which games were played with no fans in the ground. That was their first win there in 18 visits. Clearly, City, like many other teams, struggle with playing at Anfield, especially when there are supporters present.

Then, this weekend, add into the mix that it is City’s first game since the independent commission’s guilty verdict was announced, and you have an almighty challenge for the group of players and staff who are on the frontline.

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any of the players who could be involved on Sunday, most of whom weren’t at the club between 2009 and 2018, and nor by Maresca, who worked for City’s youth teams from 2020 to 2021 and was former manager Pep Guardiola’s assistant for the 2022-23 treble-winning season, but was also not even at the club during the period in question.

And yet it is they who will bear the brunt of the opposition fans’ ire. It is they who will have to deal with anyone’s displeasure that City did seemingly not play by the rules.

And it is they who will have go to the ground with one of the best atmospheres in the world, at which City already have a terrible record, and deal with what would have been one of the most hostile crowds they will face this season regardless of what has happened.

An already monumental challenge will be even greater this weekend. City’s 100% start to the season is under real threat.

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