The biggest match of the Premier League weekend is most certainly Manchester City at Liverpool tomorrow- a matchup of the reigning champions versus the favorites to dethrone them. Ahead of this crunch clash, the two managers are in a very spirited verbal back and forth.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp started the mini-spat when he complained about his team being overworked and fatigued, saying they did not have the “two-week break” that Man City had, in reference to the games that Pep Guardiola’s side missed due to a covid-19 outbreak.
Klopp maintains that City’s good run of form is largely due to the time they had off for virus protocols. Guardiola bit back by saying Klopp “knows it’s not true,” and that he will tell the German himself, in person this weekend. The Spaniard said he’ll set his opponents straight on Sunday, which of course implies how confident he is in getting the road victory.
Liverpool Team News, Starting XI Prediction: go here
Manchester City Team News, Starting XI Prediction: go here
Understandable, given how is side is substantially favored and seven points clear of the Reds in the table, with a game in hand to boot.
Klopp said the following at his press conference on Friday:
“We haven’t had a break — I think City had a two-week break for COVID reasons. It’s really tough. It’s a tough season for many teams.
“It’s the first time I felt that way, but after a week of twice travelling to London, two intense games (against Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United), I don’t think we really ran too much in those games. We ran exactly as much as we had to do to win the games.
“Then we came back and faced a Brighton team who had a good idea and we were not ready at that moment, obviously. The players couldn’t do it and you have to think why they couldn’t, that’s why I said what I said after the game.
“But we now have four days between games, things are different. Last week we had two days between games and travel, that’s not an excuse, that’s just how it is and we therefore weren’t fresh enough.”
City have only played one less game than Liverpool in the league, but both clubs have staged 33 matches across all competitions this season. The coronavirus outbreak that kept City out of action lasted a week, December 26 to January 3rd, and it resulted in a December 28 fixture with Everton being postponed.
Guardiola responded to Klopp’s comments with the following at his news conference on Friday:
“He made a mistake, it was two months off, or three months off? No, [it was] four. Four months off. That’s why we are in top form right now. Jurgen has to see the calendar again.
“We had COVID, we have one week and we played with 14 players at Stamford Bridge, but maybe I’m wrong and it was not two weeks, it was three or four weeks. Tomorrow when I see Jurgen I’ll say to him: ‘How many weeks or days were we off?’
“I will tell him tomorrow. He knows it’s not true. Come on! Nobody in the Premier League has had two weeks off.”
Pep is in the right on this one- having a covid outbreak is not a bye week; it’s not going on holiday. Not to mention the fact that the covid outbreak forced the side to be without several key players for a few games. This is serious business, and not something to be flippant of.
On top of that, there is also the anxiety and stress that comes with testing positive for covid-19, and that can obviously be a hindrance and distraction from achieving all that you can in the world’s foremost football competition.
City are currently top of the table, by three points, with a game in hand on second place Manchester United. They are undefeated in their last 13 across all competitions.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.