Football Focus

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Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson and ex-Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin are in the studio with Dan Walker, looking ahead to the weekend's games.

Klopp absentpublished at 12:07 Greenwich Mean Time 6 February 2016

12:07 GMT 6 February 2016

Liverpool v Sunderland (15:00 GMT)

Image source, Reuters

Some significant news coming out of Liverpool...

Manager Jurgen Klopp will be absent from today's Premier League fixture against Sunderland at Anfield, after suffering a suspected bout of appendicitis.

First team duties will be over-seen by the remaining members of the coaching staff, including Zelkjo Buvac, Peter Krawietz, Pepijn Lijnders and John Achterberg.

Be interesting to hear what Daniel Sturridge had to say about this.

Thanks Tom. Bit of over-sell that. I imagine many of you feel like I did when I bought tickets to see David Tennant play Hamlet only for him to injure his back and the understudy take over. Don't worry, though. I know most of the lines. We'll stumble through this together.

The biggest names for the biggest games.

Game of the season so far, without a doubt. And our very own Phil Dawkes is the man to guide you through it...

BBC Radio 5 Live

Former England winger Chris Waddle is the man we have chosen to talk you through the lunchtime top of the table clash. Tune in now!

Chris Waddle
Former England winger at the Etihad Stadium for 5 live Sport

Image source, Getty Images

"Manchester City are in good form and haven't lost for a long time in the Premier League. Aguero, Toure and Silva are all getting back to top form. 

"You have to defend very, very well against Man City, and you have to catch them on the counter-attack. But all this usually works well for Leicester, who defend in numbers and let you come to thir 18 yard box before hitting you on the break. 

"This is set up for a very intriguing game..."

John Murray
BBC Radio 5 live commentator at the Etihad Stadium

Image source, Empics

"It's remarkable, the Leicester story. But I will continually refer back to last season. These teams last played here in this stadium on 4 March 2015. Man City won 2-0, two goals in the second half, and after that Leicester were cut adrift at the bottom of the table - they were seven points from the team that were fourth bottom. 

"And here we are now, in the position that they are, potentially going six points clear of Man City at the top."

Manchester City make four changes from the side that started in the 1-0 win over Sunderland. Pablo Zabaleta, Aleksandar Kolarov, Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling all come into the team.

Image source, .

Leicester are unchanged from the XI that began in the 2-0 victory over Liverpool last week.  

Image source, .

Steve Edmunds: Spurs away at Dundalk, back in the day ... Coach broke down near Swansea at 4am en route to a 7am sailing from Fishguard to Rosslare. Replacement coach arrived at 6:30am, too late to make the ferry that day, so we drove 8hrs through the valleys to Holyhead to make the 3pm crossing. Finally arrived at game at min 30 to stand on a wet and muddy bank! Pub afterwards wouldn't sell us Guinness as the brewery was on strike and the stock was "only for the locals". My one and only trip to Ireland, needless to say.

That sounds horrendous Steve!

Matt Elliott
Former Leicester City captain on BBC Radio 5 live

"It's miraculous, the way Leicester have turned the table on its head from this time last year. But this has now gone on too long to be a flash in the pan. They simply overpower the opposition, who just cannot live with them for the 90 minutes.

"And every so often they turn on the style, as they did in midweek against Liverpool."

Rachel Brown-Finnis
Former England goalkeeper

"Being a former keeper, I think Kasper Schmeichel has matured over the years, he is part of the spine of that team that has impressed. That is why they have been so successful. Leicester are in a positive bubble. Claudio Ranieri is preparing them for this dream and vision. Initially it was 40 points and being safe. I think if people start to stick their heads out of the bubble and made make the realisation they could win the title that is when they might stutter."

Football Focus

Another big weekend in the Premier League and what better place to start than watching Football Focus at 12:10 GMT?

Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson and ex-Aston Villa striker Dion Dublin will be in the studio with Dan Walker.

Dan, from Manchester:  En route to watch Manchester United at Southampton. Coach stops off at a service station in the Midlands for a 'comfort break'. 15 minutes later, we're ready to go save for the absence of one unaccounted-for passenger. Cue the driver's half-hour manic manhunt around the car park in an effort to locate him. A few minutes later, the 'missing' passenger emerges from the coach toilet.

It's easy picking the Leicester team at the moment. Same again from the side which beat Liverpool in midweek...

Matt Elliott
Former Leicester City captain on BBC Radio 5 live

"Leicester will come here full of confidence. They matched Man City down at the King Power not so long ago. They will believe, they will be well set up and they will think they can get something today.

"It's been very much a collective effort. Most of these players are playing at the highest levels of their careers. The players bounce off each other. The system suits them and the team's confidence has just grown and grown. 

"The belief is there, and it's in evidence. They are all playing to their maximum, and we're all seeing the results."

Manchester City

Fabian Delph and Raheem Sterling return to the Manchester City line-up for today's big one...

Matt Elliott
Former Leicester City captain on BBC Radio 5 live

"Things have got real, here at Leicester. They are genuine title challengers. They will consolidate their position if they can come away with something today. If that happens, there will be a lot of happy people travelling home via the M6.

"But even if they don't win a point, the Foxes will remain in the mix."

There were about 66 seconds between these tweets. The fastest inspection ever?

BBC Radio 5 Live

Former Leicester City defender Matt Elliot and ex-England winger Chris Waddle are previewing the top of the table clash between Leicester and Manchester City.

Ben Tinsley, from Cardiff: Another train rather than coach tale... A few seasons ago on the way back from Man City away we noticed Gary Medel and his family on the next table! Cue chaos when the word spread around the train. He couldn't speak a word of English so my Spanish-speaking brother was the official 'translator'. There was also a Norwegian TV channel filming (due to Solskjaer) - I don't think they'd seen anything like a train full of drunk Cardiff fans with one of their players joining in the revelry...   

Image source, Getty Images