Liverpool boss Arne Slot expects Pep Guardiola to find a solution to Manchester City’s problems and said his ability to innovate is what makes the Catalan the best manager in football.
The Reds, fresh from a superb 2-0 win over Real Madrid, host Guardiola’s strugglers at Anfield on Sunday with a chance to go 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League – a margin City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan admitted could end their hopes of a fifth straight title even at this early stage.
City had lost five in a row going into Tuesday’s Champions League match against Slot’s old side Feyenoord, and then stunningly blew a 3-0 lead by conceding three in the last 15 minutes of a 3-3 draw.
Check out our gallery as attentions swiftly turned to Manchester City following our win over Real Madrid 📸
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 28, 2024
Their fragility is obvious but, even with Liverpool top of both the Premier League and Champions League standings, Slot will take nothing for granted going into the weekend.
“I don’t think anyone in the last eight or nine years, maybe longer, would have said with City, home or away, the word easy never comes up when you think about City,” said Slot.
“They are still a very, very good team and one of the reasons why Pep Guardiola is one of the best in the world, I think the best, is he always comes up with solutions for his problems.
“His problem now might be that Rodri is out but we all know he will come up with solutions and their run of form will go again. Hopefully, after Sunday…
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes up with another brilliant idea. He was the one who started playing with inverted full-backs, then with a centre-back as a number six. That is why he inspired so many managers.
“He came up with it, we thought it was crazy and then it worked so we all tried to do the same. If there is anyone that can come up with something new, it is definitely him.”
The opportunity for Liverpool to take advantage of City’s predicament is obvious and their visitors will hardly be relishing a trip to a ground where, even at full strength, they have won only twice in 27 Premier League matches.
“In general if you play one of your competitors it is always an important moment,” Slot said. “It is not so much to do with the amount of points they have but these teams have always been very close together and those games are always very important, just like Arsenal or Chelsea.
“But they are only important if you win against all the other team so every game is very important to win, for them and also for us.”
City’s plight has brought into focus an injury list which is headlined by Rodri but goes deeper with Mateo Kovacic, Ruben Dias, John Stones and Oscar Bobb all out while Kevin De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku are among those still working their way back.
But Liverpool have dealt with significant injuries of their own. Trent Alexander-Arnold will be fit to return at the weekend but Alisson and Diogo Jota remain out, while there are fresh doubts over Wednesday’s man of the match Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate.
“People only talk about injuries if the results are not there, so it is a good thing if people have not talked about our injuries,” Slot said. “But the moment you start to lose is it about kick-off times on a Saturday afternoon or injuries.
“We do have some very important players injured but if the replacements do well it is normal people don’t talk about that.”
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