Liverpool have had an unexpectedly slow start to the new season
 |
| Pep Guardiola doesn't think Liverpool are a weak side despite poor form |
Pep Guardiola has insisted Liverpool's low position in the Premier League makes little sense as he prepares for another clash with the Merseysiders.
Guardiola takes his Manchester City side, the defending champions, to Anfield on Sunday to extend their 13-point lead over the Reds.
Jurgen Klopp's side, who have been City's main title rivals in recent years, have had an unexpectedly slow start to the new season, with just 10 points from eight games. Still, Guardiola has no doubts about the enduring quality of a team that came close to winning a quadruple last season.
“Two months ago, three months ago, Liverpool was fighting for an unprecedented situation in English football, fighting for four titles,” said the Spaniard.
“They won two, lost one by one point and, in the ( Champions League ) final, they had more shots on target, more chances, more everything than the opponent and they lost.
“For just two little details they could not achieve something that no English team had done. This the same team with the same manager.
“Those moments happen. We will have them. We try to avoid having bad moments but we will have them, and it’s part of the nature of the competition.
“I pay zero attention about good moments or bad moments. I analyse how the team is and I’m always expecting the best of them. This is how you have to approach it.
“It’s not necessary to tell the players. They know because in the last years we fought for multiple competitions and all the titles and they came close, really close.
“We were a little bit better, especially in the Premier League, but nothing has changed the opinion I can have about them.”
While Manchester City's summer signing Erling Haaland has made headlines with 20 goals in just 13 appearances this season, Liverpool's own star striker Mohamed Salah has struggled to find his form.
However, the Egyptian pointed out that his slump may have ended when he came off the bench in midweek and scored a six-minute hat-trick in the Champions League against Rangers.
On the impact both players can make for their respective side on Sunday, Guardiola said: “These type of players always score goals in their career. Sometimes they struggle a little bit because the team is not at their best but the quality is there.
“If both players (Salah and Haaland) have a half-chance, they can convert it, they are they’re so good. “It’s not (correct) to say Salah is not going to score goals anymore – he is always going to score, we know that.”