City lead second-placed Liverpool by just a point as the two rivals prepare to once again go head to head, with boss Pep Guardiola claiming he has been surprised by his side’s impressive start to the campaign so far.
In fact, last season’s Treble winners will be looking to make it 24 home wins in a row in all competitions against Liverpool this weekend.
“Honestly, I could not expect to be in this position at the start of the season,” said Guardiola in Friday’s pre-match press conference.
“We have five teams so tight, but we are there. It’s an important game, but there’s more to come.”
The two clubs have shared the last six Premier League titles between them, two of which went down to the final match of the season, with Guardiola insisting Liverpool have been their biggest challengers since his arrival at the Etihad in 2016.
“I think we are all friends,” he added. “Time goes forward, eight years with Liverpool and not the same team as the start. They are similar of course.
“Trent Alexander-Arnold can play inside now, but the ideas are similar. Always they’ve been our best rivals.
“Top club, top team, I’m looking forward to it. Every compliment to Liverpool and Manchester City to still be here.
“In the last decade, since I’ve been here, Liverpool have been our best rivals.
“This is the reality and of course, we are still there. That’s a big compliment to both Man City and Liverpool. After many, many years we are still there.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola hopes that Erling Haaland will be fit to face the Reds after the striker withdrew from international duty with Norway with an injury, but there are several other injury concerns.
“He trained yesterday [Thursday] with some niggles, today we train and hope he can be part of it,” Guardiola confirmed.
“We have a few problems like many clubs, we’ll see after our last training sessions, we’ll see.
“I will know at 6pm who we have available, it’s always plan A.”
Saturday’s meeting between the top two teams in the Premier League is being billed as the biggest game of the season as Jurgen Klopp’s team have emerged from a summer midfield rebuild to sit among City’s main challengers, just a point behind the leaders despite their fifth-place finish in May.
But the Liverpool manager insists the clash, against what he describes as “the strongest team in the world”, should not be used to gauge comparisons with the champions.
“Saturday is a big one, no doubt, against the strongest team in the world for the last years,” he said in his Friday press conference.
“That is a massive task for each football team in the world and for us as well, but we will give it a try anyway.
“It is not a test how close can we get to City, it is just a super-exciting football game.
“But for us it is not about being excited, we have to prepare it properly and we know we have to be at our best to get a chance. We have that then it is about us to take it.
“A lot of things can happen: can we play bad, lose? Possible. Can we play bad and win? I would say it is unlikely, it’s pretty much not possible against City. We can play very good and don’t win, it’s possible. We play very good and win.
“This team doesn’t have to pass a test now, the direction we are going – up – is really the right one, that is obvious.
“Toulouse [a 4-3 Europa League defeat] we were not good there. I made a lot of changes so it goes on my responsibility, but still no good. Against Luton [a 1-1 draw], we were not good and if we had won the game, we were not good that
night.
“But in a lot of games this season we were good and deserved what we we got.”
Premier League heavyweights collide at the Etihad Stadium at 12.30pm on Saturday, November 25 – and you can watch Man City’s showdown with Liverpool live on Sky Sports.
We’ll be on air from 11am on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event for an in-depth build-up to the meeting of the Premier League title rivals, in what could be one of the defining games of the season.
You’ll then be able to watch every thrill and spill from the contest when the action gets underway at 12.30pm, with free highlights then available shortly after full time on the Sky Sports app & website.
Make sure the earlier-than-usual kick-off time for a game on Sky is noted in your diary!
