Salah, VAR and attacking line up — Five lessons Man City must learn from Liverpool fixtures

Since Liverpool inflicted a chastening Champions League demolition job on Manchester City in 2018, the Blues deserve credit for a series of improved performances against their closest rivals.

Pep Guardiola says City and Liverpool have both raised the bar in the Premier League: both in terms of what it takes to win the title, with regular 90-plus points tallies, and also in terms of the sheer quality the sides possess. The 2-2 draw at Anfield earlier this season was one of the highest-quality Premier League games for a long while, and now the rivals prepare for a showdown that will have direct implications for who eventually becomes champion.

City and Liverpool know everything there is to know about each other, although Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will still see various areas that can be improved upon on Sunday. We've looked at the key moments in the last few meetings and picked our four areas for City to learn from:

ALSO READ: Pep Guardiola has already hinted at Man City line up changes vs Liverpool

Stop Salah

It seems an obvious thing to say, and keeping Mo Salah quiet — especially in a game of this magnitude — is far easier said than done. However, Guardiola will be well aware that Salah has either scored or assisted five of Liverpool's last seven goals in the league against City, including each of the last four going back to 2019.

In October, Salah raced clear of Joao Cancelo to set up Sadio Mane, before his sensational solo goal later in the match. Both goals were brilliant from the Egyptian, but not helped by Cancelo and then Bernardo diving in and giving him space to accelerate.

Salah has not been in great form recently, so City can't afford to give him gifts like they did at Anfield. They have to keep Liverpool's