Diogo Jota has warned Manchester City that Liverpool are poised to pounce if they drop any points in the remaining seven games of the Premier League season. The Blues stayed a point ahead of their title rivals with the 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium last week, but Jurgen Klopp’s team will grab top spot with anything but a defeat against Manchester United tomorrow night.
City then face a home game with Brighton on Wednesday night, when they will seek to bounce back immediately from their FA Cup semi-final defeat by Liverpool at Wembley. And with a Saturday clash against relegation-haunted Watford, the day before Liverpool face a derby clash with Everton, City could turn the table and pile the pressure back on Liverpool.
Jota feels Liverpool built up a head of steam by winning then on the bounce before that 2-2 stalemate with City, and says that his team are ready to take full advantage if City slip up. He points out that City had built up a 14-point lead in mid-January, although Liverpool had two games in hand, and that the Merseysiders have clawed it back to the point where they are breathing down City’s necks.
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“We always want to win, but December is always a tough period when you play loads of games,” said the Portugal international. “Sometimes you don’t have enough time to rest, and we had some injuries as well, some sent off. It’s a hard period.
“You need to survive, of course. City got a little bit of an advantage in those periods, but then you regroup and go again.”
Jota indicated that Klopp had taken a leaf out of City’s book, when they hauled in Liverpool’s lead at the top by going on a 14-match winning streak at the end of the 2018-19 season to overhaul Liverpool and then hold them off and take the title.
“I remember Jurgen said that we were going on a mission to win every single game,” he said. “At the time, I think it was the Brentford game, so we just grabbed three after three after three. That’s what makes us close to the first place at this moment.
“Now, we need to wait for them to drop points again. We need to do our job, so that’s what we need to be focused on, because it is not easy to win seven Premier League games in a row.”
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