Opponents Must Fear Anfield – Georginio Wijnaldum

Midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum believes Liverpool’s firepower — especially at home — means even Manchester City should fear coming to Anfield.

Tuesday’s 4-1 victory over Stoke was the fourth time in eight matches they have scored four or more in the Premier League in front of their own fans.

The goals have been shared around the squad with Sadio Mane leading on eight, Divock Origi, Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino all with seven apiece, Philippe Coutinho six and James Milner and Daniel Sturridge with five each.

When Sturridge scored the fourth against Stoke, his first in the Premier League this season, it notched up the 100th in the league under Jurgen Klopp in only his 48th match, equalling the record set by Kenny Dalglish.

Liverpool are the top-flight’s top scorers with 45 goals in 18 games, 25 of those coming at home, and that is why Wijnaldum believes Anfield is becoming a fortress once again.

“The way we are playing and the way we are scoring goals in the home games, I think it will scare opponents,” said the Holland international.

“We have a lot of players who can score goals and win the game for us.

“That’s a good thing because if it depends on one person, it can be a problem because if that person doesn’t score, you will not win games.”

City are no slouches in front of goal themselves — they are the joint second-highest league scorers on 39 with Arsenal — but theirs are concentrated at the feet of Sergio Aguero, who has 16 in all competitions and returns from suspension for the game at Anfield.

Raheem Sterling, Nolito and Kelechi Iheanacho all have six goals but Wijnaldum said it was difficult to compare the qualities of the two sides ahead of their meeting on New Year’s Eve.

“They also have a good attack [but] I think we are good at attacking,” he added.

“They have a lot of good players who can score goals, even players on the bench who can come on and score goals, so I don’t think there is a big difference.

“Of course Aguero is a wonderful player and can win the game on his own for Manchester City so he’s one of the threats we have to deal with.

“But it’s not only Aguero, you also have [Kevin] De Bruyne, and [David] Silva, Sterling. You can go on with calling names.”

With their win over Stoke, Liverpool overtook City to move into second place again but they are still six points behind leaders Chelsea.

Defeat for either side on Saturday would make catching Antonio Conte’s side even more difficult but Wijnaldum prefers not to think about that.

“The season is long. You can’t control other things and games will come after Manchester City,” he said.

“We can’t control the playing of Chelsea and they might come into a bad situation and drop points. They may not, you never know.”