Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Liverpool may be the ‘best team in the world’ ahead of Premier League title showdown

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says Liverpool may be the ‘best team in the world’ ahead of Premier League title showdown
Pep Guardiola believes Liverpool could be the “best team in the world right now”.Manchester City, the defending Premier League champions, face a pivotal clash with Jurgen Klopp’s Reds at the Etihad on Thursday.2

Guardiola believes Manchester City’s title bid hangs on Thursday’s clash with Liverpool

City, having lost three times in December, find themselves seven points behind the leaders ahead of this week’s showdown.“With the position of Liverpool, if we drop points then it is over, it is finished; it would be almost impossible,” said Guardiola, after his side’s victory over Southampton.“Of course they are going to drop points but not too many. If you want to be there as far as possible until the end, we have to remember what happened last season, and this as well, apart from the last few days.We won a lot of games but unfortunately we lost two and we have a rival who at the moment is the best team in Europe, or in the world.Liverpool, who thrashed Arsenal on Saturday, have not lost in 20 matches this season.2

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“Liverpool know what they have to do, we know what we have to do on Thursday,” Guardiola said.“I know the distance is big, seven points, especially because they’re so solid and consistent. But we’re at home, hopefully our extra help from our people at the Etihad can help, they can support us.“In the winter break everyone loses games, except for Liverpool in this period, but everyone drops points, that’s normal.“We spoke about our responsibilities and what we are as a team and they did it today [against Southampton], and that was fantastic.”Kevin De Bruyne missed Sunday’s Southampton clash with a muscular issue and is a doubt to face Liverpool.

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Roberto Firmino returned to Liverpool's first team training ahead of next month's Champions League final. The forward last featured for the Reds in their 3-0 defeat at the Nou Camp in the first leg of their semi-final with Barcelona.
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ARSENAL reportedly made a late swoop to try and sign former Aston Villa flop Jordan Veretout. But the midfielder looks set to snub a move to the Emirates in order to join Napoli. Arsenal made a late attempt to sign Jordan Veretout from Fiorentina but look set to miss out Getty Images - Getty
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hollywoodadviser.com/aston-villa-flop-jordan-veretout-linked-with-transfer-move-to-arsenal/
Ramsey replacement? The 26-year-old made 29 appearances for Villa when they were relegated to the Championship in 2016 Arsenal are interested in signing Aston Villa flop Jordan Veretout, according to reports. The Frenchman joined Villa for £8million from Nantes in 2015.

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'I feel sorry for all of them': Cesar Azpilicueta apologises to Chelsea fans after 6-0 drubbing by Manchester City. Cesar Azpilicueta said sorry to fans after being hammered by the league leaders
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However, not everything went swimmingly for the East London side - striker Lucas Perez had to come off after 45 minutes because of a foot injury, and was replaced by Andy Carroll. After the game, the 30 year old Spaniard shared a photo of his left foot on Twitter - and it made us wince quite a bit.
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