Liverpool will be reunited with Pep Lijnders at Anfield on Sunday as Manchester City come to Merseyside.

The Dutchman spent 10 years with the Reds, winning the lot as Jurgen Klopp’s very visible assistant manager.

Lijnders could get a lively reception from the Anfield crowd after surprisingly deciding to join Pep Guardiola at City last summer.

From a purely footballing point of view, Lijnders did not look an especially good fit to work alongside Guardiola, with his favoured style of intense pressing not necessarily chiming with the Spaniard’s vision of the game. That has so far been borne out in the results of City’s season, which has not been a completely smooth affair.

And as Liverpool look to deal them another blow on Sunday, the Reds reportedly think Lijnders has implemented a tactic at Man City which Hugo Ekitike in particular can exploit.

Ekitike is in brilliant form for Liverpool, and as journalist Miguel Delaney notes in his ‘Reading The Game‘ newsletter on Friday, the Reds think he could be just the man to exploit Lijnders and City on Sunday.

“As noted in this newsletter on Monday, opposition sides are now...