The early kick off on November 21st in the EPL sees Liverpool hosting Manchester City as 6th plays 7th in what should have been one of the most anticipated games of the season seemingly looks like being an anti-climax. At the start of the season these were 2 of the 5 teams who looked like challenging for the Premier League title though their form has seen them swiftly fall out of the race and are unlikely to get back involved in it the way they are currently playing.
Liverpool who had come second last season had been expected to mount a serious challenge this year though the sale of Xabi Alonso seems to have hit them hard and what had often been a three man team is looking more and more like a two man team with Gerrard and Torres being the two stars. Man City despite coming 10th last year had spent a lot of money strengthening their squad. Included in the transfers to the team was long term Liverpool target Gareth Barry (£12m), Carlos Tevez from local rivals Manchester United (£25.5m paid to his third party owners MSI), Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure from Arsenal (£25m and £16m respectively), Roque Santa Cruz from Blackburn (£17m) and Joleon Lescott from Everton (£24m). This was expected not only to help strengthen the squad but to help them mount a real run at the title.
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