Pep Guardiola admits he fears three Liverpool stars ahead of Manchester City clash

Add as preferred source on Google

While much has changed for Liverpool, plenty still stays the same ahead of Sunday’s meeting between Arne Slot’s team and Premier League champions Manchester City.

And it’s testament not only to Manchester City’s remarkable crisis of confidence but also the manner in which Arne Slot has picked up the baton from Jurgen Klopp that, heading to Anfield, Guardiola’s team have been installed as the underdogs by the bookmakers for the first time since 2017.

Of course, top-flight football is so frequently bamboozling that the prospect of Man City snapping a run of five wins and a draw in their last six games at the ground they have struggled at the most in the Guardiola era would feel rather typical.

Yet, the manner in which Liverpool swept past Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night – 24 hours after Man City threw away a 3-0 lead at home to Feyenoord – only strengthens the hosts’ status as pre-match favourites.

A suddenly error-strewn City side have conceded a staggering 17 goals in those six fixtures too. This being the first time since 1963 that Man City have let in more than two in six successive games.

And, while Liverpool will be without the injured Diogo Jota, the increasingly brittle confidence of Josko Gvardiol and co may yet snap again with Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz likely to play a big part.

Cody Gakpo, meanwhile, now has six goals in his last eight games for club and country. The Dutchman secured three big Champions League points for Liverpool with a thumping header to see off an uninspired Real Madrid outfit.

Pep Guardiola highlights Mo Salah and Liverpool’s fearsome frontline

That Los Blancos triumph, meanwhile, was Slot’s 17th win in just 19 games since replacing Jurgen Klopp.

A record Guardiola, that cut still visible on his nose, can only dream of at present. The suddenly embattled Man City boss argues that, while the personel may have changed on and off the pitch at Liverpool, the quality remains.

“Really good,” Guardiola said when asked about Slot’s impact. “Maybe they have more of a positional game but the transitions are always still there.

“Every corner or free-kick for you is a transition [opportunity] for them. How quick… the weapons they have up front, always since I’ve been here with [Roberto] Firmino, [Sadio] Mane, Salah.

“Now, with the other players. With Jota, with Nunes, with Luis Diaz, with Salah. 0-0 is a good result, even in the past when we were fighting the biggest battles since I have been here fighting Liverpool.”

In-form Cody Gakpo keen to deepen Manchester City woes at Anfield

Liverpool are already eight points clear at the top of the Premier League table. The Reds have exploded out of the starting blocks in a manner reminiscent of that 2019/20 title-winning season on Klopp’s watch.

Slot’s near-faultless charges can extend their lead over Man City, meanwhile, to eleven on Sunday. And while Guardiola’s team have shown pretty remarkable powers of recovery over the years – usually hitting their stride in the springtime – an 11-point deficit before Christmas may be simply too big to claw back.

“It is a massive opportunity, I think, against a very good team,” Gakpo tells Liverpool’s official website. “One of the best teams in Europe actually [who have been] dominating a lot of games in recent years.

“But this is a massive chance for us to show them what we are made of and that’s what we are planning to do. So, hopefully it’s going to be a good game from us again and we end up with a win.”

“Obviously we are in a good position, you cannot deny that. But I think it’s still early in the season so we are not really looking at the table yet. Obviously, we are aware of the situation but we have to keep winning the games to stay on top and also just to win the games.”