Pep Guardiola can use blueprint to turn Liverpool FC setback into Man City advantage

Over the course of Manchester City and Liverpool's Premier League duopoly over the past five seasons, Pep Guardiola has been only too willing to praise the team standing in his way.

When questioned about the quality of Jurgen Klopp's side - whether that be in the build-up to meetings between the two clubs or during the final, neck-and-neck weeks of the season - the City boss always credits Liverpool with pushing his side all the way and keeping the pressure up, and Klopp for forcing him to evolve as a coach.

Simply put, Guardiola believes that Liverpool are the team that don't allow City to take their foot off the gas and force them to quickly find solutions to problems. That's what happened in both 2018/19 and 2021/22 - City had to quickly arrest slumps in form and dig deep within themselves to find the results that kept Liverpool at bay.

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When City don't respond that way then you get a situation akin to the 2019/20 season. City were not good enough or consistent enough to compete with a brilliant Liverpool side. City could not find solutions to their problems quickly enough and so finished the campaign as distant runners-up.

If City's defeat at Anfield on Sunday is anything to go by, then the same could happen this season, albeit in a slightly different way. Should Liverpool win their game in hand then they will still be seven points behind City and 11 adrift of league leaders Arsenal. It would take a gargantuan effort to catch up to both.

But this recent setback could push City and Guardiola to improve by showing the manager what doesn't work.

City have been blowing opponents away this season, but for the trip to Anfield Guardiola