Pep Guardiola doesn't like going to Anfield at the best of times.

"They scare me," the Manchester City manager said of Liverpool and their prolific, Mohamed Salah-led strikeforce during a fly-on-the-wall documentary back in 2018, when Guardiola's team were comfortably the finest in England.

Just imagine what he is thinking now?

Amid the worst run of results in his coaching career, Guardiola probably would prefer any other fixture than Liverpool away.

But his beleaguered defending champions face Liverpool on Sunday (Monday AEDT) in a contest which, on current form, threatens to be a mismatch.

"It's going to be as tough as it is possible to be," City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan admitted, "but that sums up the situation right now."

Indeed, Liverpool and City — the league's current top two, separated by eight points — are trending in opposite directions.

Liverpool not only lead the Premier League but also the 36-team Champions League. They're coming off a win over Real Madrid, and have won 17 of 19 games in all competitions this season, losing just once.

Meanwhile, City just squandered a 3-0 lead from the 75th minute to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord, having previously lost five straight games, topped by a 4-0 defeat at home to Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham.

Guardiola has never lost so many in a row in his coaching career. His team have conceded at least two goals in each of those six games and 17 in total.

City are 17th in the Champions League and might be out the Premier League top-four come Sunday night.

Guardiola acknowledged this week: "We're not able to win games now. As a team, we always found a way to win games ... but right now, nothing happens."

So how have things fallen apart for City, the winner of the last four Premier League titles, so spectacularly?

They're dearly missing season-long absentee Rodri, the Ballon d'Or winner and the holding midfielder who is so important in conducting their attacking play and protecting the defence.

Mateo Kovacic has been acting as Rodri's replacement but returned from Croatia duty injured last week and missed the 4-0 loss to Tottenham, as well as the Feyenoord game.

All four of City's centre backs were absent two weeks ago and are being rushed back, possibly prematurely, while star man Kevin De Bruyne hasn't started a match since mid-September because a nagging groin injury.

All teams have injuries, however, and it's about how you deal with them. Guardiola, for all his undoubted tactical genius, hasn't done so very well.

He has admitted to being unwilling to change his style and is wedded to a heavy-pressing, possession-based approach whatever personnel he has available.

Questions have to be asked about City's transfer strategy and recruitment over the last two years. How can Rodri be the only out-and-out holding midfielder in the squad? Kovacic and now Gundogan are deputising but it's not their strength.

How too can Erling Haaland be City's only genuine striker in the squad? City sold Julian Alvarez, essentially Haaland's backup, to Atletico Madrid in the offseason and didn't replace him.

Kovacic and Gundogan are in their 30s, with City's midfield suddenly looking slow, especially off the ball, and tired.

And how much is the upcoming verdict on the more than 100 charges against City for alleged financial breaches weighing on the squad?

It's widely known that the outcome should come early in 2025, with points deductions and even relegation a possibility.

Futures are on the line at the club. Maybe the players are starting to feel that.