Alan Shearer makes prediction for Man City v Liverpool - 'They have big issues'

Alan Shearer is not expecting Manchester City to rebound instantly from their Champions League battering at the hands of Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola's outgoing Premier League champions come up against leaders Liverpool on Sunday afternoon as the bookmakers' outsiders. And Match of the Day pundit Shearer is giving City little chance if centre back John Stones and Erling Haaland miss out through injury.

Newcastle United legend Shearer does reckon City will find the net but believes they will cough up too many chances to Mohamed Salah and company.

"This is a tough game to call. I think that if John Stones is injured and also Erling Haaland then I’m not convinced City can bounce back," he told Betfair.

"They battered Newcastle and rightly so, but I still think that they’ve got big issues in that team defensively, so I am going to go for an away win to Liverpool.

"I know Liverpool are giving away chances as well, they are giving teams a little bit of hope, so I do think that Man City may score.

"But I just think that Man City, with the way they are defensively, Liverpool will score more."

Guardiola, whose only remaining goal for the season is now sealing a place in next season’s Champions League, has conceded the title but believes his team can put it up to Liverpool in a one-off game.

The Catalan said: “I don’t think we’re in a bad moment – apart from Madrid, who are a better team right now. The priority, the Premier League, is massively important for us and we did good games.

“Even when we lost 5-1 against Arsenal I would say we played a really good 60 minutes. Except the first five, when we conceded the goal and gave away another chance, the rest was good. In other games, for example Newcastle, we have been at a high level.

"We will try to play a good game and take the points that we need to stay up there to qualify for next season to be where we were until last Wednesday.

“But Liverpool are a top team in many aspects. They lost just one game in the Premier League. That’s why it’s a good test for us.”

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