Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, maintained that Liverpool was their biggest rival before his team traveled there this coming Sunday.
“Liverpool has always been and will continue to be our biggest rival.
Everything is possible given our current situation and the World Cup, according to Guardiola.
It might be a psychological trick.
But there is solid evidence to back this up.
The Premier League title competition has essentially been a two-horse race between Liverpool and City for the previous five years.
The Reds won the championship in 2020 during the epidemic, whereas City have won four of the last five matches.
When Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp entered the final day of the season one point apart in those years, Klopp continued to pressure Guardiola tactically.
But on Sunday at Anfield, the defending champions take on the sputtering rivals.
The gap between the two dominant teams on the table is already 13 points wide.
Liverpool welcomes City with a perfect home record for 2022–2023. The team led by Klopp has now gone 27 games without losing on home soil.
The Reds, meanwhile, are dealing with a serious injury situation. The following players are not available for selection: Arthur Melo, Luis Diaz, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keita, and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Erling Haaland was able to take a break for City’s midweek Champions League trip to FC Copenhagen.
Haaland has scored 20 goals across all competitions to start off his English career on a fantastic note.
It will be interesting to see how the Norwegian striker and Virgil van Dijk match up as Liverpool tries to contain City’s roving forwards.
Liverpool’s season will undoubtedly be defined by this game. If they are successful in defeating Guardiola’s team, it might offer them the much-needed turnaround to begin their season. Draws can be OK. But failure merely portends a terrible campaign.
