Why does Liverpool vs Man City have a strange kick off time?

Liverpool host Manchester City on Sunday afternoon in a match that could have huge ramifications in the Premier League title race. The pair are separated by just a single point at the top of the table heading into the weekend after Liverpool bagged a late winner at Nottingham Forest and City eased to victory in the Manchester Derby. 

The Reds won this game last season, with Mohamed Salah netting a second half winner at Anfield. What Liverpool wouldn't give for a repeat on Sunday. Liverpool are looking to extend an unbeaten home run that stretches back to October 2022, with Leeds the last team to come away from Merseyside with all three points. 

The City juggernaut, meanwhile, continues to march on with Pep Guardiola's side hitting their stride for the run in, as per. Victory over Copenhagen on Wednesday night saw them stretch their unbeaten run to 20 games, winning 18. They've won every match away from the Etihad Stadium since their 1-0 loss at Aston Villa at the beginning of December. 

Understandably the main event on Super Sunday this weekend, with Aston Villa's welcome of Tottenham a worthy undercard, fans will have noted a change in kick-off time once more for City's trip to Liverpool. City saw their game moved forward by an hour last weekend as they kicked off against Manchester United at 3:30pm GMT rather than the usual 4:30pm GMT.

And on Sunday, their monster meeting with Liverpool will instead kick off at 3:45pm GMT. And why is that the case? The kick off time can be attributed to the Merseyside Police. They requested the earlier start time for the Reds' welcome of City due to fears over fan safety. There have been numerous issues between both sets of fans in recent seasons, which includes damage to team buses and items being thrown. 

As such, an earlier kick off time has been implemented to try and minimise the risk between supporters and the surrounding areas.

With Arsenal in action on Saturday evening, neither Liverpool nor Manchester City can afford to drop points in what should be an exciting clash at Anfield.