City not afraid of Anfield with or without fans-Pep

Ahead of their Super Sunday showdown at the Anfield, Manchester City Coach Pep Guardiola says his players cannot be intimidated at the Anfield, insisting that the boys can fly with or without fans presence.

City won 4-1 at Anfield last season their first victory at Liverpool’s home ground for 18 years while fans were locked out because of restrictions.

With those now relaxed, there will be a full house to watch City’s visit on Sunday but Guardiola said he is “pleased” fans are back.

“It’s not about intimidation,” Guardiola said. “It’s about the quality of the opponent. When you don’t win it’s because they are so good. We try to win games with or without spectators. But last season we won.

“I’m very pleased Anfield is full again and we can go there to play a game. It’s nice that the people are back and we can enjoy a fantastic atmosphere there.

“Hopefully we can handle it in a good way. I’m pretty sure the players would prefer to play with fans at Anfield than without.

“I don’t know the reasons why we didn’t win at Anfield over the 18 years. Over my five years, it was because they are an exceptional team.”

Guardiola will be without injured pair Ilkay Gundogan and Oleksandr Zinchenko as City look to bounce back from their Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday.

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The trip to Liverpool rounds off a tough week after games at Chelsea and PSG but Guardiola believes that if they match their performance in Paris, they can win at Anfield for the second season in a row.

“In spite of the result in France the performance was excellent,” Guardiola said. “Same at Stamford Bridge and I hope we can continue nine more months ahead of us.