Liverpool v Man City at Anfield on Sunday

Club football comes back this weekend, and the fixture list has not eased anyone in gently. Liverpool host Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday at half past four.

City arrive with a perfect record. Five matches, five wins, fifteen points, and a goal difference of plus eight. No side in the division has taken a point off them yet.

Liverpool have not been beaten either, which is the part that gets lost when you look at the table. The problem is the three draws. Two wins and three draws from five leaves them sixth on nine points, level with Brentford, Leeds and Everton, and six behind City before a ball is kicked on Sunday.

The weekend starts earlier than that. Arsenal, second on twelve points, open it at home to Leeds on Saturday lunchtime. Manchester United play Tottenham on Saturday evening, a fixture that used to decide things and this season involves a United side sitting twelfth on five points.

There is the usual caveat about the first weekend after an international break. Squads have been scattered across Europe for a fortnight, some players flew back on Wednesday, and managers will have had two or three training sessions with a full group. Anfield on a Sunday afternoon is not where a tired team wants to find that out.