Pep Guardiola admits that his Manchester City side are in ‘big trouble’ ahead of their meeting with Liverpool this weekend. The Reds now carry an advantage.
It’s Liverpool vs Manchester City once again on Saturday, this time in the FA Cup. It’s the latest fixture in a crazy schedule for both teams, having already faced one another on Sunday.
And that fixture was sandwiched between Champions League quarter-final ties for the two title chasers. We’ve never seen anything like it.
But those Champions League ties were not equal and Liverpool come out of them with a pretty decent advantage this weekend. It’s one that could make a real difference and Pep Guardiola appears to recognise it.
Liverpool vs Manchester City
Liverpool were able to rotate heavily at Anfield last night. Jurgen Klopp made seven changes to the XI that drew at the Etihad Stadium as Liverpool carried a 3-1 lead. They eventually drew 3-3 on the night, qualifying fairly easily and with fresh players.
City, on the other hand, went all-out with their side against Atletico Madrid. They needed to, given their 1-0 lead from home was never going to be a guarantee. It means that, unlike Klopp, Guardiola couldn’t rest his star names ahead of the weekend.
Even worse, both Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker appeared to pick up injuries in the game. It leaves Guardiola believing his side are ‘in big trouble’.
“We are in big trouble,” he said, per the Mirror. “We played three days ago against a tough Liverpool, travel, come here and have a lot of injuries right now.
“I’m not sure what will happen in the next weeks but, yeah we will celebrate at home.”
So Liverpool will unquestionably be fresher than their opponents at Wembley – something we saw coming last month. They may even face a depleted City side and both instances could make a huge difference. In a clash as tight as this one, with little between the two sides in terms of quality, it’s a situation that could see the Reds over the line.
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