Aymeric Laporte has insisted Manchester City have “nothing to be envious about” when it comes to Liverpool.
Liverpool are battling with City for the Premier League title and could briefly move top of the table on Saturday with a win over Watford, as Pep Guardiola’s side are due to play Burnley at Turf Moor later that afternoon. A gap that until recently looked insurmountable for the Reds, now stands at just one point.
With a crucial league meeting between the pair to come on April 10, as well as an FA Cup semi-final, the threat of Liverpool will loom large over City for the next two weeks, at the very least. However, Laporte has claimed he is unfazed by Jurgen Klopp’s resurgent Reds and believes the club have already proven that they can stand up to the test.
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“City can’t be afraid of anyone,” Laporte told The Guardian. “Something like this happened a few years ago: [Liverpool] were a point behind in the same week, and in the end we won the league. We have this fight now and that’s good for the fans, and neutrals.”
“The football we play, no one else plays in the world. We’re an example of how to play nice football, to be superior in all areas. I think they’d like even part of our game.
“As for us having something of them: taking chances and benefiting from opponents’ errors a little more, because often we have the opportunity and don’t take it. We let the other team off. But there’s nothing to be envious about.”
Though Laporte is evidently confident in City’s ability to fend off Liverpool’s persistent challenge, questions have been raised over the club’s form after Guardiola’s team dropped five points in their last four league games. Their home defeat to Tottenham and recent draw with Crystal Palace was capitalised on by Liverpool, who are currently enjoying a nine-game winning run in the Premier League.
However, Laporte has brushed aside City’s recent critics. The Spain international admitted that his side have made mistakes but that suggestions that the club should consider altering their style are wide of the mark.
“Although we can make mistakes, I don’t think it’s as bad as people say, or as some seem to want to make others think because they don’t like City.
“We’re humans, people have to understand that: just as we beat United, we lost to Palace. You can’t explain that with money. However much a player costs, that doesn’t mean he’s going to be the best. It’s not an exact science. We’re leaders, a point ahead of Liverpool. We have the best defence – and [yet] people throw defensive issues at us.
“We don’t have to change our style for anything in the world. For all that another team comes and does something else, we have a thought-out strategy. People don’t appreciate that.
“The analysts and coach work on it a long time ahead of the game. It can then work out well or badly. In the last four years there have been loads of semi-finals and finals: many we’ve won, others we’ve lost. It’s football.”
