Gini Wijnaldum and The Fortress of Anfield

The boys in red have not lost a single league match at Anfield this season. There have been two draws and six wins beneath the gaze of the new main stand and confidence will be running high in anticipation of Manchester City’s visit to Merseyside on Saturday. Liverpool midfielder, Gini Wijnaldum, who has been a regular in Jürgen Klopp’s team since joining in the summer, sees this major match-up as yet another opportunity for the team to cast aside yet another foe.

“I think Anfield is a fortress,” said Wijnaldum.

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

“What I see right now is that we have a lot of confidence. We learn quickly and adapt to situation in games.”

There is that feeling under Jürgen Klopp that the team is never out when they’re down. They believe in the game plan even when it’s weakness is exposed. They believe in their ability to outplay opponents over ninety minutes. And they always believe that they can score goals.

The current goal tally for this season is forty-five goals. And they are coming from everywhere. Sadio Mané has eight. Adam Lallana has seven. Roberto Firmino, six. Philippe Coutinho and James Milner both have five. Divock Origi got into that four-goal smorgasbord. Also, Emre Can and Dejan Lovren have three and two, respectively. Henderson, Matip, Sturridge and Wijnaldum have a goal each. Other teams cannot merely isolate our striker or triple-team one player and hope to stifle Liverpool’s scoring ability. We are everywhere, now.

And while City boast a star-studded roster that includes the likes of Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, Wijnadum knows that the Reds have plenty in their squad to keep the Citizens anxious for the weekend, too.

“It’s two teams that want to attack and score goals,” said Gini, “so it’s going to be an interesting game.

“We both have players who can win games for their team. They have to look at our players and we have to look at theirs.”

There will likely be a glut of “Big Game Build-Up” heading into Saturday. With Liverpool sitting in second place, just one point above Manchester City, the stakes are mighty high. Both teams will want to keep pace with Chelsea who have an infuriating, six-point lead at the top.

Now, I’m a nervous wreck already. But, Gini claims to not be worried.

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

“Chelsea might come into a bad situation and drop points. They may not, you never know. We have to keep going.”

Yes, but even so, please win.