Kevin De Bruyne, speaking ahead of Liverpool vs Man City on Super Sunday: "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"
Sunday 16 October 2022 17:23, UK
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne expects "up-and-down" Liverpool to return to their best when the two teams meet in the Premier League on Super Sunday.
Liverpool, last season's runners-up, have picked up only two wins from eight games and sit 10th in the table, 13 points adrift of City in second. However, Liverpool landed a morale-boosting 7-1 win at Rangers on Wednesday night, ahead of their clash with City at Anfield live on Sky Sports this Sunday, kick off 4.30pm.
"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," De Bruyne said before Liverpool's win at Rangers.
"I like big games, I like good atmospheres. It's a game like any other, obviously, it's hard playing away at a top-six team always, I think the last few years we've done well."
Both league games between the sides last season ended 2-2 as City beat Liverpool to the title by one point.
"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," added De Bruyne, who has nine assists this season.
"I think it's probably going to be a good game again."
City progressed to the Champions League last 16 after a 0-0 draw at FC Copenhagen on Tuesday.
The result was still enough for City to advance to the last 16 but manager Pep Guardiola, who rested Erling Haaland, later said a number of his players had been tired.
Despite being below par, De Bruyne insisted he was in good shape.
"I'm not exhausted at all," said the Belgian. "Obviously it's hard but I'm fine.
"Some people have maybe played more than me, and obviously it's a little bit more tiring and exhausting playing with 10 men - I don't know how other people feel, but I feel OK."
On the latest episode of Essential Football we take a closer look at the problems at Liverpool, after their defeat at Arsenal left them already 14 points off top spot in the Premier League.
Sky Sports News' senior reporter Melissa Reddy and Sky Sports' senior football journalist Richard Morgan join Peter Smith to assess the wider issues at the club - and the form and fitness worries compounding those problems.
From mis-steps in the transfer window to the team's tactical evolution under Jurgen Klopp the panel discuss how a team which was going for an unprecedented quadruple earlier this year is now languishing in mid-table a long way off the early pace setters in the Premier League.
