Pep Guardiola says he is expecting the “best” from Manchester United even though Manchester City will start tomorrow’s derby as red-hot favourites to extend their dominance over their rivals.
City have won five of their past six matches against United in all competitions and are 15 points ahead of their opponents in the Premier League. But Guardiola, whose team are chasing a second consecutive trophy treble, said he would not be taking United lightly. “I expect the best from United, but I don’t talk about what they do, about opponents that I respect too much,” he said. “I don’t want people to misunderstand my words. I know them and have a lot of respect for the institution, United of course, Erik (ten Hag) and the players but when I see what we have to do my players will know it today and tomorrow.”
Guardiola said despite United’s disappointing season, they still carry a threat. “In one action they create something special in set pieces, in transition, in open play, connection between a few players and they score goals,” he said. “Always United have been that way. When they play good they win games, when they are OK they are, no stress, they are able to win games. We are in March already, 2024, they lost just one game, last week at home (against Fulham).”
Klopp proud of Liverpool young guns as injury problems ease
Jurgen Klopp said Friday he was proud of his young players after they stepped up to help keep injury-hit Liverpool’s quadruple bid alive. Klopp’s men beat Chelsea at Wembley last week to win the League Cup and then progressed to the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating Southampton in midweek.
Now Liverpool turn their attention to today’s Premier League fixture against struggling Nottingham Forest as they seek to extend their lead at the top of the table. They are just a single point ahead of defending champions Manchester City and two clear of in-form Arsenal. Forward Darwin Nunez and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai could return for the trip to the City Ground but top scorer Mohamed Salah will not be ready.
The German spoke of his “joy and pride” in the performances of his youngsters, many of whom featured in Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Southampton at Anfield. “Yesterday (Thursday) was a wonderful day,” he said. “Usually when we win a trophy we do a staff picture and yesterday we did it 100 percent with the full academy staff as well so it was a lot of people. I really wanted everyone to feel it and understand the role they played in that whole story and that was really cool.”
Fixtures (1500 GMT unless stated)
Today: Brentford v Chelsea, Everton v West Ham, Fulham v Brighton, Newcastle v Wolves, Nottingham Forest v Liverpool, Tottenham v Crystal Palace, Luton v Aston Villa (1730)
Tomorrow: Burnley v Bournemouth (1300), Manchester City v Manchester United (1530)
Monday: Sheffield United v Arsenal (2000)
Pep Guardiola
