Kick-off at Anfield is at 4:30pm local time on Sunday. Manchester City are the only side in the Premier League with a perfect record, having won five from five for 15 points. Andoni Iraola’s Liverpool sit sixth on 9 points, unbeaten, but with three draws from their opening five.
The sporting match-up would be enough on its own. The context is what makes this the most watched Premier League fixture of the season so far. The commission’s ruling, delivered on 29 September, concluded that City had used what it called “sham” deals to inflate revenues and reduce costs by more than £900m between 2009 and 2018, finding the club guilty on all but one of the 115 alleged breaches.
Potential sanctions range from fines and transfer embargoes to points deductions and relegation. City have lodged an appeal, and no punishment has been handed down.
Maresca backs the club and the appeal
Enzo Maresca spoke publicly for the first time since the ruling at a Friday press conference, and said the Anfield atmosphere was exactly what had drawn him to the job.
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“The reason I decide to become manager is for this kind of game,” Maresca told reporters.
The Italian backed the club’s appeal and the ownership.
“I spoke with the club for sure. We all trust, and probably the right moment to speak about that is when we are going to win this appeal.”
Pressed on whether City’s recent silverware is tainted, Maresca referred back to the treble season and said he had no doubt about the effort behind it.
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Iraola without his first-choice strikers
Andoni Iraola called the fixture “massive for everyone involved” in his own pre-match press conference.
“It’s massive for everyone involved in these type of games. It’s an exciting moment,” the Liverpool manager said.
Iraola, in his first full campaign after replacing Arne Slot in the Anfield dugout, is without strikers Alexander Isak (thigh) and Cody Gakpo (ankle), both injured on international duty and neither considered long-term absentees. Erling Haaland, by contrast, is fit for City after a short break and recovery period.
On the broader situation hanging over the fixture, Iraola was pointed.
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“I think the worst thing probably is the uncertainty, that no one knows what’s going to happen.”
A fixture without precedent
Liverpool and Manchester City have met many times in the Premier League, but none of those earlier fixtures carried the backdrop of a champion club found guilty of financial breaches on the eve of kick-off.
The ruling came after an independent commission heard evidence over roughly 10 weeks across autumn 2024 before reaching its findings almost two years later. The club remain in every competition, with their points intact, and lead the division they were found to have deceived.
A separate sanctions hearing will decide any punishment. No date has been set.
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