Jamie Carragher prepares a Man City U-turn ahead of Liverpool showdown

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Manchester City travel to Anfield to face high-flying Liverpool on Sunday afternoon for the biggest game of the Premier League season so far.

City have endured a nightmare last six weeks, losing five games on the bounce in all competitions before Tuesday night’s ‘absolute disaster’ against Feyenoord in the Champions League which saw the team ship in three goals in the final 15 minutes after being in control of the match at the Etihad.

Liverpool have capitalised on this desperate run of form from Pep Guardiola’s side and opened up an eight-point lead on the Premier League champions and know that a win on Sunday would leave City a whopping 11 points adrift.

City have overcome significant deficits before to win league titles under Guardiola, but the club has never had such a poor run of form as are enduring now under the Catalan. So would a Liverpool win effectively end their hopes of a fifth straight title?

Jamie Carragher’s Man City title fear

Despite his pre-season prediction that he thought Man City would win the Premier League title, former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher believes 11 points will be too much – although he remains wary of Guardiola’s ability to resolve issues.

“Even now, despite City looking so poor in recent games and demonstrating the kind of flaws that look like they will need time to fix, nobody will write off their title and Champions League chances without caution,” Carragher writes in his Telegraph column. “That is because of one man. If anyone else was in charge, we would be arguing that the club’s main focus this season is guaranteeing finishing in the top four.

“With some hesitation, I will make a prediction which – because of the Guardiola factor – may come back to haunt me. If City lose to Liverpool, their title defence is over before Christmas.

“An 11-point gap would be too much. That is not necessarily because Liverpool would stretch away to win the Premier League. Arsenal and Chelsea have a real chance this season, too. But City would need to go into the Christmas schedule looking capable of going on one of their prolonged winning sequences.

“No one analysing their performances could presume they will not lose more of the 25 games remaining after the Anfield trip. On current form, City could lose another five or six. That makes the upcoming game monumental in this year’s title race, early as it is. Slot will recognise this, too. The difference between an 11-point and five-point lead is massive psychologically.”

Man City and Liverpool schedules compared

Should City produce what would be a dramatic turnaround and pull off a victory at Anfield on Sunday, they can look ahead to a pair of easier upcoming fixtures, as the champions host Nottingham Forest on Wednesday, before a trip to Crystal Palace next weekend.

Liverpool, meanwhile, have two potentially feisty away trips to deal with next week. On Wednesday night they head to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United before their final Goodison Park Merseyside derby in the Premier League, when they face Everton on Saturday lunchtime.

The Reds then have Fulham at home before a visit to Tottenham in their final fixture before the festive period, while City will need to be back to their best before Christmas, when they face a Manchester derby and a trip to Villa Park.