Jurgen Klopp will do something neither he nor his counterpart Pep Guardiola has done before when Liverpool visits to Manchester City on Saturday.

Liverpool can’t afford even a smidgeon of post-international break rust on Saturday, when Manchester City welcomes it back to the Premier League in what will undoubtedly be the toughest match of the season.

The game, which is set for 12.30 p.m. UK time — much to Jürgen Klopp’s disgust — pits the league leader and defending champion City against the team now second in the table, Liverpool, and thus has the feel of a crucial early chapter in the title fight.

The Reds should view this game as an opportunity to show, both by play and outcome, that they are serious title contenders again after finishing fifth in a disappointing 2022/23 season.

Victory would put them two points clear at the top of the table, but these three points are the most difficult to come by. City hasn’t lost at home in over a year, dating back to Brentford’s 2-1 smash-and-grab triumph just before the World Cup break. Its unbeaten home record now stands at 25 games, with 21 victories.

Meanwhile, Liverpool has failed to win any of its last six visits to City, five in the Premier League and one in the Carabao Cup. Its most recent success at M11 occurred in the second leg of the 2017/18 Champions League quarter-finals, when Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino scored to secure a 2-1 victory on the night and a 5-1 aggregate victory.

The last league victory there was eight years ago, in November 2015, in Klopp’s eighth game as manager, a 4-1 victory when Manuel Pellegrini was still in control. Liverpool has drawn three and lost four of its last seven games, scoring seven goals and conceding 19.

The Reds have previously visited to City in the midst of a title duel between the two sides, but Klopp has failed to win on both occasions. In 2019, the hosts won a 2-1 thriller to change the tide in the title battle, and in 2022, the two clubs drew 2-2 to keep Pep Guardiola’s men a point ahead.

This isn’t a criticism, given the unparalleled difficulty of coming out on top — Guardiola hasn’t won at Anfield when the two teams have been in direct competition either — but it does feel like a missing piece for Klopp, a manager who’s accomplished virtually everything at Liverpool, both in terms of silverware and landmark victories against big rivals.

Saturday presents an opportunity to reverse that, but Klopp already knows that his players will need to put on a flawless performance to have a chance.