Timing matters in football. Sometimes it shapes a season, sometimes it shapes a legacy. Manchester City heading to Anfield straight after being found guilty of breaching a raft of Premier League financial rules is one of those moments that needs no dressing up.

For Liverpool, the anger is obvious. Over a sustained period, they pushed standards to a level few sides in English football have ever managed, yet still came away short in title races that were decided by the finest margins. Those campaigns from 2018 to 2022 already carried a sense of grievance for many supporters. This verdict has only sharpened it.

So this is no ordinary Liverpool vs Manchester City fixture. It is a major Premier League game loaded with resentment, noise and scrutiny. Manchester City have opened the season with five wins from five, and on form alone they would back themselves against anyone. Anfield, though, is about more than form when the mood turns.

There is no mystery about what awaits Enzo Maresca and his players. Anfield will be hostile, loud and entirely unforgiving. That is what big grounds do when supporters sense a grievance, and Liverpool supporters have more than enough material here.

Gary Neville summed it up neatly on The Overlap Podcast: “I think if they want an understanding of how angry the game [as a whole] is going to be, then Anfield will tell them a week on Sunday, like you would never believe.” He went further, adding: “I suspect there may be banners, there’ll certainly be chanting, there’ll be a reception like you have never seen for them at Anfield.

That sounds accurate. No need to inflate it. Liverpool supporters will not treat this as just another home game, and Manchester City know it.

That does not hand Liverpool three points. Crowd noise helps, but it does not win tackles or defend the back post. City still have top-level players, they still control possession well, and they have already shown enough this season to suggest they can handle difficult away grounds.

There is also a clear risk for Liverpool. Emotion can sharpen a side, but it can also make a team frantic. If Andoni Iraola’s side start fast, press properly and force City into mistakes, Anfield becomes a serious factor. If they lose shape and chase the occasion, City can punish them.