MANCHESTER CITY and Liverpool meet in a Carabao Cup tie with a difference on Thursday night with the World Cup break finally over.
The meeting of English football's current big two is usually a game that everyone wants to see, but there are plenty of reasons for punters to go easy here.
Both sides should be rusty after their long hiatus after Qatar and both will undoubtedly put this competition down the pecking order as usual, even though City did recently win it four times in a row and with Liverpool out of the title race, this is one of their best chances for silverware remaining, having won it last season too.
Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp will be mindful of their Premiership return after Christmas and team sheets will be of huge importance here.
The City boss has already stated it won't be anything near to a full strength team although he does look set to field Erling Haaland and everyone knows what a difference that will make.
For Liverpool, who were in Dubai recently, are unlikely to use Virgil van Dijk at the Etihad although he does have England stars Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold available.
How the bookies view it
City are favourites and narrowly odds-on everywhere with Paddy Power's 20/23 just about the best price around. Liverpool can be backed at 3/1 with bet365 and the draw is 14/5 with SBK.
Recent head of heads
Liverpool may have had a hugely disappointing season but they were too good for City when the sides met in the league at Anfield in October and won 1-0. They also won the Community Shield.
City haven't actually beaten Liverpool on their last five meetings.
Players to watch
This should mark the return of goal machine Erling Haaland who will be chomping at the bit to return to action after a month sitting at home watching the World Cup. The goalscoring phenomenon is 17/20 with UniBet and that could be value against a van Dijk-less defence.
Mo Salah also sat out the World Cup of course and he should be available for this one. He is 21/10 to net on Thursday with bet365.
Anything else catch the eye?
Picking a winner here is fraught with red flags and punting minefields and the line-ups will be hugely important. With this match not having the usual pressure associated with it when these two teams meet, there should be a decent chance of goals here, especially if Haaland and Salah start.
Over 2.5 goals and both teams to score at 6/7 with 10Bet must have a very good chance of coming up.
And on a similar theme, try over 3.5 goals too at 6/4 with William Hill, with both sides probably leaving the handbrakes off here.
This EFL Cup match between Manchester City and Liverpool will be played on Dec 22, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Manchester City vs Liverpool prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
