Pep Guardiola: Cup loss to Liverpool has little impact on City’s league hopes

Pep Guardiola does not think Liverpool’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Manchester City hands the Merseysiders a psychological advantage in the title race.

City manager Guardiola believes Saturday’s thrilling clash at Wembley will only be relevant going forward if the two clubs meet again in the Champions League final.

Liverpool won 3-2 at the national stadium to keep their quadruple bid on track while at the same time ending City’s hopes of winning a treble.

Attention now turns back to the enthralling title race between the two clubs, with City holding a one-point lead at the top of the Premier League with seven games left. They also both remain alive in Europe and could clash again in next month’s final in Paris if City see off Real Madrid and Liverpool overcome Villarreal in their semi-finals.

Guardiola said: “There is a chance we will play at the end of the season, in case both teams reach the final of the Champions League. So then I will watch what happened.

“Now the psychology is we have seven games in the Premier League and we know exactly what we will have to do to try to win the Premier League.

“We go game by game. We don’t have time (to dwell on the result). In four days we have another game, then after that Watford, then Madrid, then another one.”

City are next in action when they host Brighton on Wednesday.

Guardiola will hope playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who were unused substitutes at Wembley with foot and knee injuries respectively, will be fit to return.

Kyle Walker was also not involved due to an ankle problem as Guardiola made seven changes from the side that came through last Wednesday’s draining Champions League clash at Atletico Madrid.

Guardiola said: “When you have all