Manchester City will look to stem the bleeding of a five-match losing streak this evening when they host Feyenoord in the Champions League.
The European tie comes on the back of Saturday evening’s disastrous 4-0 defeat to Tottenham as Pep Guardiola’s side slipped eight points behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League table.
The reasons behind City’s current woes are one of English football’s most hotly-debated topics at the moment, with most pundits pointing the finger at the club’s injury list and ageing squad as they look to figure out what is going wrong.
While Guardiola insists people are wrong to suggest his squad is too old, it is clear that club needs to quickly turn around their fortunes, with the Feyenoord clash offering a chance to stabilise before Sunday’s huge trip to Anfield to face the league leaders.
Chris Sutton on Liverpool trip
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LiverpoolLiverpool | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 8 | 16 | 31 |
| 2 |  Man CityManchester City | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 22 | 17 | 5 | 23 |
Liverpool host City this weekend knowing that they will open up a huge 11-point lead over the Premier League champions should they win, making City’s title prospects even bleaker than they already are.
But there is also a school of thought that for City, a win against the division’s in-form team would be the perfect way to get their season back on track and end their current crisis.
This was put to former Chelsea striker Chris Sutton, who knows exactly how important the Sunday afternoon clash is.
“The longer this run goes on, the game of the weekend against Liverpool is so crucial for them,” he told the BBC’s Monday Night Club. “Because if they go and they lose, and if they lose heavily, then where do they go?”
Sutton was then asked if Liverpool would be the perfect opponent to make a point against.
“Well, you’d probably rather play Southampton,” he admitted. “If you could. I’m not so sure I’d want to go up against Mo Salah in the form that he’s in.”
Salah saga to distract Liverpool?
As Sutton points out, City will be up against a Mohamed Salah who seemingly has a point to prove himself this term.
The Egyptian is out of contract at the end of the season, with his future another big Premier League talking point, given his form in front of goal in recent weeks.
| Games played vs Man City | Goals | Assists |
| 16 | 6 | 4 |
Salah has found the net 12 times this season and conjured up 10 assists in 18 appearances across competitions, as the 32-year-old shows no sign of slowing down.
City will be hoping that Salah’s post-match comments that he is ‘probably more out then in’ when it comes to his Liverpool future will act as a distraction for the table-toppers, after the forward admitted he is yet to be offered fresh terms to remain at the club beyond this season.
