Arne Slot: If anyone can fix Man City, it's Pep Guardiola

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.

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