Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson is expecting an “incredibly tough trip” to Manchester City despite their poor season continuing with their midweek Champions League exit.
Pep Guardiola’s men have won the last four Premier League titles but this season the trophy looks set for Anfield, with the Reds entering the weekend with an eight-point cushion at the top.
City are 17 points off the leaders and reeling from Wednesday’s bruising 3-1 play-off defeat at Real Madrid in the Champions League, but Robertson is expecting a reaction at the Etihad Stadium.
“It’s still an incredibly tough place to go,” the long-serving Liverpool left-back said.
“Certainly since I’ve been here, our record there isn’t great from my memories. Maybe we’ve had a couple of draws and things like that. It’s always been a tough place for us.
“They’ve got some fantastic players. OK, they’re maybe having a tough season, but I think they showed last weekend against Newcastle they can still steamroll teams.
“We have to be at our best, that’s the only way to do it. And if we are at our best then we believe we can cause any team problems.
“But it’s going to be difficult. We need to recover, rest as much as we can because the schedule has been tough – but we’ll be ready to go on Sunday.
“The whole squad has to be ready, the manager keeps on saying that, the lads on the bench have to be ready to make an impact.
“Once we get through the next two games then we’ve got a little break where we’ve not got a game at the weekend.
“We just need to keep pushing through that and if we do then let’s see where we’re at after that.”
Liverpool have never won a top-flight away match against a Guardiola-coached City side, with their last Premier League victory at the Etihad Stadium coming in November 2015.
Robertson is looking forward to challenge as the Reds look to kick on from their frustrating 2-2 draw at Aston Villa on Wednesday.
“That’s, I suppose, the beauty of football – you never know how important certain results are until the end of the season,” the Scotland international told club media.
“But we definitely had chances to get our noses back in front – when it was one each in the first half, when we go to two each we had the big chance.
“But, look, it’s part and parcel of football and these lads will be in front of goal again and they’ll hopefully take their chances.
“We don’t know if it’s a point gained, two points dropped, whatever it will be, but we have to just keep pushing.
“I think the performance levels from everyone was good enough. We fought really hard and we have to take the point and now we have to move on because the schedule is tough on us just now.”
