Man City head to Anfield under cloud of financial rules verdict

The Premier League resumes this weekend with one of its flagship fixtures, but Manchester City’s trip to Liverpool will unfold amid a hostile atmosphere and beneath an unprecedented cloud following the club’s guilty verdict in a landmark financial case. City head to Anfield on Sunday for their first league game since an independent commission found the club guilty of more than 100 serious breaches of the league’s financial rules over nine years, as well as charges relating to their failure to co-operate with the investigation. City have appealed the decision and continue to maintain their innocence, saying the commission’s opinion contains “clear material errors” and that they possess evidence supporting their position. For now, however, the legal battle and the football season occupy the same uneasy space. City have carried on imperiously on the pitch, winning all five of their league matches to start the campaign, and will arrive at Anfield looking to preserve that perfect record. “The feeling is fantastic, to be honest,” Maresca told City’s in-house media on Thursday. “The players are excited for the next two games (they host Paris St Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday), but especially they are excited because in this moment, we are top of the league, so the players they are just focused on that. “They know that what we can control is the football side. They know they are professionals. They know that the noise is there, but they don’t care too much about the noise. They are just focused on this moment, how we can beat Liverpool, how we can, together with the fans, try to win at Anfield.” Liverpool, meanwhile, have endured a less convincing opening, with two wins and three draws from their opening five league games. That would normally provide more than enough intrigue for a fixture between two clubs that have shaped much of the top flight’s recent history, but events away from the pitch have transformed Sunday’s game into something far bigger. “If they want an understanding of how angry the game ​is going to be, then Anfield will tell them like you would never believe,” former Manchester United captain and England defender Gary Neville declared recently on The Overlap podcast. “I suspect there may be banners, there will certainly be chanting. ​There will be a reception like you have never seen for them at Anfield… it will be a ​brutal day.” SANCTIONS YET TO BE DETERMINED Every City appearance now comes with questions over what ultimately awaits the club, with the appeal process still to run and sanctions yet to be determined. The uncertainty has already prompted discussion over possible compensation claims from opposing teams and players and the broader consequences for English football. Anfield is hardly the gentlest place for City to return to domestic action after the international break. The rivalry between the clubs already carried plenty of edge after years of battles near the top of English football. Now Sunday’s encounter will provide the first indication of how City’s players handle the scrutiny generated by a verdict that reaches far beyond the usual rhythms of a title race. There is plenty at stake for sixth-placed Liverpool, too. Victory would provide an emphatic lift after their modest start and land the first blow on a City team who have so far been flawless. Defending champions Arsenal, who trail City by three points in second, kick off the weekend at home to Leeds United on Saturday. Mikel Arteta’s side know victory would lift them provisionally level on points with Enzo Maresca’s City. Leeds have provided one of the season’s early surprises, sitting fifth after going unbeaten through five games. Another heavyweight fixture follows later on Saturday when Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur, with both struggling sides desperate to inject some momentum into their seasons. United are 12th with just one victory, while Spurs are bottom with just two points. The meeting adds another layer of intrigue to a weekend already dominated by events at Anfield, with two traditional powers under pressure to turn around difficult starts when they meet at Old Trafford. Yet inevitably most eyes will be fixed on Anfield. After an unusually long pause in domestic football, the Premier League returns with its most contentious off-field controversy far from resolved.