Pep Guardiola has compared Manchester City’s Premier League challenge with the US presidential election in a bid to downplay the impact of tomorrow’s clash with Liverpool, pointing out “all the votes must be counted”.
City and Liverpool have been the two dominant sides in England for the past three years, with the Reds running away with the league last season after back-to-back titles for Guardiola’s men. However, with City just six games into their league season and every team in the top-flight having dropped points in at least two games so far, Guardiola believes he must steer his side into contention over the long haul.
“It’s an important game, but like the presidential elections in the United States of America, all the votes must be counted,” he said at his pre-match press conference yesterday. “So there are a lot of points to play (for).”
Liverpool’s title defence has been rocked by a long-term knee injury to talismanic defender Virgil van Dijk. The Dutchman is expected to miss the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury similar to that suffered by Aymeric Laporte last season that derailed City’s season.
Guardiola, though, believes the Anfield side showed their strength with a 5-0 thrashing of Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday. “The most important thing is I hope the surgery went good for Virgil and he can recover as quick and as soon as possible,” added the City boss.
“I will miss him. I like to play with the best players as possible on the pitch. Liverpool remain an incredible, top team because the structure is there, they know exactly every player what they have to do. The result against Atalanta, we know how difficult it is to beat them away, and they did it. That’s why Liverpool remains a top, top-class team.”
However, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss expects a much tighter title race this season, with Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Leicester also posing a threat. “They (Liverpool) are the biggest favourite, but I think what happened with the pandemic this season is different so I see other teams really strong,” he added.
“Leicester remain incredibly solid, Arsenal make a big step forward, Tottenham — (Jose) Mourinho got the team like he wants — Chelsea now is so stable, not conceding goals, a huge squad to rotate top players.
“Manchester United is not there in terms of results right now but I know the quality they have, we suffered from them a lot last season. I think this season will be a lot of teams being there and the last five to 10 games it will be important to arrive being there with the chance to fight for the title.”
City will be without injured striker Sergio Aguero but Gabriel Jesus is fit for tomorrow’s clash
Klopp ‘cannot help’
Firmino critics
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp defended Roberto Firmino’s all-round contribution to the English champions’ success in recent seasons as the Brazilian’s place in the team has come under threat from the free-scoring form of Diogo Jota.
Firmino has scored just once this season compared to Jota’s return of seven in 10 games since joining from Wolves in September. The Portuguese international made the most of his chance to start ahead of Firmino with a hat-trick in Liverpool’s 5-0 rout of Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday making a strong case for selection against Manchester City.
But when asked to explain the other elements of Firmino’s game that have made him a prominent part of the Liverpool sides that stormed to the Champions League in 2019 and a first league title in 30 years last season, Klopp launched a withering attack on his critics.
“Who is with us, I don’t have to say one word about Bobby Firmino and how important he was for us, I don’t have to waste time with that. Who is not with us, I don’t care,” Klopp said.
Firmino has scored just 13 goals in his last 63 appearances for the Reds. “He was in so many games the difference maker, without scoring maybe, but scoring as well in other games. I would feel really embarrassed if I have to mention now the qualities of Bobby Firmino. I can’t help these people. Sorry if they don’t see it, I cannot help them.”
Klopp believes neither side will be able to set the standards of recent seasons when both have smashed their club points record tallies with a heavily congested schedule and no fans in the stands.
“It’s that early in the season and so many things are different this year, nothing is the same compared with last year or the year before,” added Klopp.
“Everything is different and we just have to make sure we get through very intense periods with the fittest players and play the best football we can. This is the most difficult game in the world of football I would say to play against Man City so we have to prepare for that.”
Elsewhere this weekend, if Liverpool drop points against City, then Leicester, who host Wolves, or Tottenham, who travel to West Bromwich Albion, could seize first place.
Fixtures (all times GMT)
Today: v Manchester United (1230), Crystal Palace v Leeds (1500), Chelsea v Sheffield United (1730), West Ham v Fulham (2000)
Tomorrow: West Brom v Tottenham (1200), Leicester v Wolves (1400), Manchester City v Liverpool (1630), Arsenal v Aston Villa (1915)
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. (Reuters)
