Liverpool's win over Manchester United this week had no impact on Manchester City's preparations vs Brighton, Riyad Mahrez insists.
With a point separating the two sides at the top of the table, either side can put pressure on the other if they play first in a Premier League gameweek. For Liverpool, playing before City sends them top of the table as it did following their win against United. For City, like this weekend, they can set up a four point gap before Liverpool's derby with Everton.
Following that, though, Liverpool play before City for two of the three other scheduled fixtures, with both sides having one outstanding fixture to rearrange and the final day fixtures all played concurrently. Even though Liverpool could claim an advantage with the schedule, Mahrez says City simply aren't focussing on anyone but themselves.
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He said: “No [it doesn’t change anything]. We have to take it game by game. If we are to play before or if [Liverpool] play before, it doesn’t matter. In the end, you have to win.
"We didn’t think about it and we were really focused on our game. That made the difference. To be honest, we didn’t even think about [Liverpool’s result vs United] last night. They won and we know we have to win. We have to concentrate on our game.
"Sometimes we play before and sometimes we play after. It doesn’t really matter for us as wehave to take it game by game, try to win and play like we did today.”
Mahrez also sent a message to supporters who may have felt tension in the stands as City worked hard to break down Brighton's tough resolve on Wednesday.
“We cannot always be winning two or three nil at half-time," he said.
"Sometimes you have to go through this, it is not easy against a very good team and it is like this. We were very good, we controlled the game and we kept the intensity from the beginning and that made the difference.”
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