Man City more stable than Liverpool but we expect a tough match on Sunday- de Bruyne

Manchester City midfielder Kevin de Bruyne has claimed that Manchester City are surging clear of Liverpool this season because they are a more controlled and consistent team than their “up and down” rivals.

The Premier League title has been closely contested between the two clubs over recent years with City largely coming out on top, aside from Liverpool’s title win in 2019-20.

Jürgen Klopp has already ruled his side out of this season’s title race with the Merseyside club 14 points behind league leaders Arsenal and 13 points adrift of City — inside ten games.

City travel to Anfield on Sunday looking to inflict further misery on Liverpool after their poor start to the season but it is a ground that they have historically struggled to get results at.

Their 4-1 win in February 2021 was their first there for 18 years with last season’s encounter ending in a 2-2 draw. And De Bruyne believes it is a control to City’s performances that has allowed them to improve their results.

“Maybe they are more of an up and down team and we are a team who has more control of the game, so if you can control that style of play then maybe you have more of a chance,” the midfielder said. “Last year I thought we played great but we didn’t win any of the games so sometimes it goes that way.”

City are the only unbeaten side remaining in the league but despite Liverpool’s start, where they have only won two of their opening eight games, De Bruyne is expecting a difficult game.

“No, I expect them to be at the best Liverpool possible. Obviously they lost some points but they are still Liverpool and I expect them to be good, that’s the only way I see it,” the Belgium international said.

Pep Guardiola will be hoping he will have goal-scoring machine Erling Haaland back for the clash after the Norwegian sat out their Champions League draw against Copenhagen on Tuesday night due to fatigue.

It has been a hectic few weeks for City and Guardiola explained he made changes to his side for the fixture in Denmark with a number of the squad feeling exhausted after playing so many games in a short space of time. But De Bruyne, who started on Tuesday, is feeling fresh.

“I’m not exhausted at all, I’m fine,” he said