Pep Guardiola expects FA Cup consequences for Man City and Liverpool FC

Pep Guardiola expects Sunday's league clash between Manchester City and Liverpool to have a knock-on effect when the teams meet a week later in the FA Cup.

The two finest sides in English football go head-to-head on Sunday in a Premier League game where the stakes could hardly be higher; City are one point ahead of their rivals at the top of the table, with just seven games remaining after they meet. As City's manager said on Friday, the three points up for grabs in this game are of huge importance to the final standings.

And if this match is being billed as a title decide, the pair will have an actual knockout game to contend with next week when they go up against each other for a place in the FA Cup final. Either City's Treble bid or Liverpool's Quadruple attempt will have definitively fallen by the end of next weekend.

Read more: Pep Guardiola calls on Man City fans for help against Liverpool FC

Guardiola is looking forward to the clash, and was relaxed in his pre-match press conference as he joked about sleeping like a baby as part of his preparations. However, while they are two separate meetings in two separate competitions the Blues boss is expecting their first encounter to impact the second one.

“I enjoy it a lot. It’s just game by game. This game will be different from the next one, the FA Cup will be related to the consequence a little bit, mentally, of what happens on Sunday. It’s game by game," he said.

“Right after we finished Atletico Madrid, we had five days - a day off, a huge relax and recovery, then prepare for Liverpool. When we finish on Sunday I will start to review the game against Atletico Madrid for the second leg."

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