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MANCHESTER: The Premier League resumes this weekend with one of its flagship fixtures, but Manchester City\u2019s trip to Liverpool will unfold amid a hostile atmosphere and beneath an unprecedented cloud following the club\u2019s guilty verdict in a landmark financial case.\n<\/p>\n
City head to Anfield on Sunday for their first league game since an independent commission found the club guilty of more than 100 serious breaches of the league\u2019s financial rules over nine years, as well as charges relating to their failure to co-operate with the investigation.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they want an understanding of how angry the game is going to be, then Anfield will tell them like you would never believe,\u201d former Manchester United captain and England defender Gary Neville declared recently on The Overlap podcast.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect there may be banners, there will certainly be chanting. There will be a reception like you have never seen for \u2060them at Anfield… \u2060it will be a brutal day.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
City have appealed the decision and continue to maintain their innocence, saying the commission\u2019s opinion contains \u201cclear material errors\u201d and that they possess evidence supporting their position.\n<\/p>\n
For now, however, the legal battle and the football season occupy the same uneasy space.\n<\/p>\n
City have carried on imperiously on the pitch, winning all five of their league matches to start the campaign, and will arrive at Anfield looking to preserve that perfect record.\n<\/p>\n
Liverpool, meanwhile, have endured a less convincing opening, with two wins and three draws from their opening five league games.\n<\/p>\n
That would \u2060normally provide more than enough intrigue for a fixture between two clubs that have shaped much of the top flight\u2019s recent history, but events away from the pitch have transformed Sunday\u2019s game into something far bigger.<\/p>\n
SANCTIONS YET TO BE DETERMINED\n<\/p>\n
Every City appearance now comes with questions over what ultimately awaits the club, with the appeal process still to run and sanctions yet to be determined.\n<\/p>\n
The uncertainty has already prompted discussion over possible compensation claims from opposing teams and players and the broader consequences for English football.\n<\/p>\n
Anfield is hardly the gentlest place for City to return to domestic action after the international break.\n<\/p>\n
The rivalry between the clubs already carried plenty of edge after years of battles near the top of English football. Now Sunday\u2019s encounter will provide the first indication of how City\u2019s players handle the scrutiny generated by a verdict that reaches far beyond the \u2060usual rhythms of a \u2060title race.\n<\/p>\n
There is plenty at stake for sixth-placed Liverpool, too. Victory would provide an emphatic lift after their modest start and land the first blow on a City team who have so far been flawless.\n<\/p>\n
Defending champions Arsenal, who trail City by three points in second, kick off the weekend at home to Leeds United on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s side know victory would lift them provisionally level on points with Enzo Maresca\u2019s City. Leeds have provided one of the season\u2019s early surprises, sitting fifth after going unbeaten through five games.\n<\/p>\n
Another heavyweight fixture follows later on Saturday when Manchester United host Tottenham Hotspur, with both struggling sides desperate to inject some momentum into their seasons.\n<\/p>\n
United are 12th with just one victory, while Spurs are bottom with just two points.\n<\/p>\n
The meeting adds another layer of intrigue to a weekend already dominated by events at Anfield, with two traditional powers under pressure to turn around difficult starts when they meet at Old Trafford.\n<\/p>\n
Yet inevitably most eyes will be fixed on Anfield.\n<\/p>\n
After an unusually long pause in domestic football, the Premier League returns with its most contentious off-field controversy far from resolved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n