3 key battles as Liverpool host Manchester City on New Year’s Eve

Sergio Aguero vs Dejan Lovren

City welcome Sergio Aguero back into the squad for the trip to Liverpool after serving his four-match suspension for a horrific tackle on David Luiz at the start of the month.

And he’ll almost certainly come straight back into the side against the Reds, which means that defender Dejan Lovren will have his hands full at Anfield on Saturday evening.

The Croatian international has been improving under Klopp this season, and has performed well in Liverpool’s last three games, in which time they have conceded just once.

However, you still sense that Lovren has an error in him and, against Aguero, that will be magnified and likely punished.

Both teams will need to press high, certainly in the early exchanges, and this is something Aguero has added to his game under Guardiola, and he’ll be the one tasked with leading from the front against the Reds and potentially forcing an error out of the Liverpool back four.

Aguero has scored ten goals in 12 Premier League games this season, and he’ll be looking forward to testing out an improving but still questionable Liverpool backline this weekend.