Entering the Lion's Den: City Face The Ultimate Anfield Toxicity After Premier League Verdict

Manchester City go to Liverpool on Sunday for their first league game since an independent commission found them guilty of all charges tied to Premier League financial-rule breaches between 2009-10 and 2017-18. They arrive top of the table, but the trip to Anfield now carries far more than title-race weight. It comes with legal uncertainty, talk of major sanctions and the prospect of the most hostile reception City have faced there.

Liverpool have long been the opponent City would least want after such a verdict. The relationship between the clubs has been sour for more than a decade. That tension grew out of Liverpool supporters' belief that titles should have gone to them instead of City, especially after second-place finishes in 2013-14, 2018-19 and 2021-22. The last two were settled by a single point.

City are still insisting they are innocent and have launched an appeal. At the same time, the Premier League is weighing up City's punishment, with their appeal running alongside. The range of possible outcomes being discussed includes record points deductions, relegation and even expulsion, although any final outcome is likely to depend on a long legal process. Against that backdrop, every result now seems to carry a caveat and Anfield is expected to voice its anger from the first whistle.

Why Is It Toxic?

The grievance is old.

Liverpool supporters have spent years arguing that City's financial power distorted title races that should have ended differently. That feeling hardened across the three seasons when Liverpool finished second behind City, with 2018-19 and 2021-22 especially painful because the gap was only one point. In those years, the rivalry between Pep Guardiola's City and Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool became the defining domestic contest of the era.

This is why Sunday feels different from a normal top-of-the-table clash. For many Liverpool fans, the guilty verdict gives formal shape to suspicions they have held for years. It turns sporting resentment into something sharper and more personal because they believe the medals and trophies of that period might have looked different.

City's side of the argument has never accepted that reading. Their supporters point instead to the quality of Guardiola's teams and argue that brilliance on the pitch, not only spending power, defined those title wins. That divide explains why the fixture now carries unusual anger before the teams have even kicked a ball.

What Did City Say?

City are fighting back.

The club continues to maintain its innocence after appealing against the commission's verdict. New head coach Enzo Maresca tried to keep the focus on football at his pre-match media briefing, but he also made clear that he stands fully behind the club's leadership and expects a harsher environment because of the case.

"The reason I joined this club is that I completely trust, 100%, the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, all the organisation. So I don't have doubt about that," Maresca said at his pre-match media briefing before Sunday's game.

He also acknowledged what awaits his side at Anfield. "It will be a tough game, for sure. We need to be ready, the focus needs to be about the game, but we know the environment at Anfield.

"It probably will be worse because of the situation but, again, it will be our duty to do our best and try to win the game. The reason I decide to become manager is for this type of game," Maresca said.

Maresca's language on the legal fight was also telling. He put the emphasis on "when" City win their appeal, not if. That line matches the club's wider stance as they continue to insist the verdict will not stand.

How Serious Is Case?

The language is stark.

City have argued that the ruling contained "clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe". The commission's wording went in the opposite direction. It used the word "sham" eight times when describing City's dealings, a sign of how firmly it rejected the club's defence.

The scale alleged in the ruling is also striking. The commission said City artificially inflated revenue by more than £900m through "sham" deals. That figure alone explains why the case now hangs over the whole competition, not just one club or one season.

Possible sanctions being discussed range from points deductions to relegation and expulsion. That has led to suggestions that the whole Premier League campaign could, in effect, be stripped of meaning if the final punishment is severe enough. For now, the league is still weighing up City's punishment, with their appeal running alongside.

What Happens Next?

There is no quick end.

This must wait for what is likely to be a lengthy legal process. That leaves City's current results and league position under a cloud.

The uncertainty already affects the wider competition. Each win can be read with an asterisk because nobody yet knows whether the current table will stand or whether later penalties could reshape the season. That is why the fallout reaches every club, not only City and Liverpool.

Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola captured that mood while preparing for this fixture. "The worst thing probably is the uncertainty. No-one knows what's going to happen. We have to focus on Liverpool and being the best club we can be, the best team we can be. That's my challenge," he said.

How Will Anfield React?

Anfield is expected to erupt.

The expectation around this game is that the Kop will not wait for appeals, final rulings or legal closure. The anger that already existed in this rivalry is likely to come out in full, with the guilty verdict giving supporters a fresh target. There will be sound. There will be fury. There will be resentment.

Police are preparing for that risk. Merseyside Police have said there will be an "appropriate" plan in place for the match. That planning matters because the fixture has a recent security history that still hangs over it.

Before a Champions League quarter-final at Anfield in April 2018, City's team bus was attacked with bottles and flares on its way to the stadium. Merseyside Police later reviewed 130 hours of footage from the disorder but could not identify those responsible. Liverpool were subsequently fined £17,500 by Uefa. That episode is why the build-up now feels like more than pre-match noise. The concern is about what happens outside the ground as much as inside it.

What Do Critics Say?

The credibility issue dominates.

Former England striker Alan Shearer has argued that the delay in final consequences is damaging the league. "I just think it's such a bad look that we're still having to wait for the consequences.

"We've never seen anything like this. This is the biggest thing to happen to the Premier League since it started in 1992, that's how big it is. Credibility matters and you won't get anything different from any coach or player at Manchester City other than we're going to stick together and we believe in the club.

"They're about to find out the anger from every club, starting at Anfield.

"It needs sorting out now because they've spent a fortune in the summer. They've won every game and that could still be the case in two months, three months, four months. They could end up winning the league. That's why it needs sorting out now because it's such a bad look if it's allowed to fester.

"The level of hostility will rise wherever they go. The ramifications are endless to this case. Where it goes after is something we don't know. It's huge. It really is massive," Shearer told BBC Radio 5 Live Sport.

Tony Pulis made a different point, but from City's perspective. He argued that the squad and fanbase should close ranks and use the hostility as fuel. "I loved being the underdog and I loved to prove people wrong, and that is what I would demand now - a siege mentality from my squad and supporters alike to prove to people that, irrespective of what is happening off the pitch, on the field and the terraces we respect our club and we are going to fight on," Pulis wrote in his BBC Sport column.

Those two views frame the bigger issue. One is about credibility and speed of punishment. The other is about how City might respond on the pitch while the case drags on. Sunday at Anfield is where both arguments meet. City walk into a title-race test, but also into a stadium that is ready to treat them as the face of a wider dispute over fairness, money and the value of this Premier League season.

For Maresca and Manchester City's players, shrouded in uncertainty and under threat of future Premier League punishment, Anfield – always a cauldron when they visit – will present the ultimate mental, physical and footballing examination.