Sunday’s reunion between Liverpool and Manchester City was always going to be a tasty affair, but things escalated up a notch on Friday after Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola engaged in a mini-war of words at their press conferences pre-game.
Deemed to be a decisive title match even before the start of the season, a win for City would move them ten points ahead of Liverpool with a game still in hand – and Klopp’s side could withdraw from the top four if the results elsewhere were against them.
Fine tuning ?
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– Manchester City (@ManCity) February 4, 2021
Liverpool have obviously not been at their best this season, with Klopp often blaming his sloppy form on fatigue, and during his press conference he suggested that City would be better prepared for the game as they could use their forced break earlier in the season. to recover.
“We have to play football, recover, train, recover, using every minute you can get to recover,” he said. “We didn’t take a break, I think City took a two week break for COVID reasons.
City actually had a week off over the New Years period after a number of their players tested positive for the virus, forcing the Premier League to postpone their meeting with Everton, and Guardiola urged Klopp to consider the facts before making statements like this.
“Jurgen needs to revisit the schedule,” he said. “We had COVID, a week off and played with fourteen players at Stamford Bridge.
“Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it was three or four weeks. When I see Jurgen, I might ask. I am surprised. I thought Jurgen was not that type of manager.
Is there anything better than press conference drama?
City will enter the game as a big favorite. Guardiola’s men are currently on a 13-game winning streak in all competitions, while Liverpool have won just five games in the same span.
The shock of Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Burnley has left Klopp and left-back Andy Robertson fearing that Liverpool are already out of the title race, and the loss to City on Sunday may well leave them too much ground to catch up .
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