Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City team to be ready to “overcome absolutely everything” as they head to Liverpool for a crunch title showdown.
The champions make the journey to Anfield on Sunday for a game that could have a huge bearing on the destiny of the Premier League crown.
The atmosphere is likely to be intense with all the pressure that can bring, for the players and especially the referee, but Guardiola hopes his side can rise above it all.
“When that happens we have to perform better,” the City manager said. “We cannot control what happens in these stadiums with the referees.
“We have to do better. It’s the only thing we can do. It’s not the first time, it will not be the last.
“We have to overcome these situations and to do the peak achievement, of trying to fight for the fourth Premier League in a row, that no team have done, never ever, this is the type of challenge we have to face – overcome absolutely everything.
“Otherwise will be difficult, in this case, to win on Sunday. But, whatever happens, I’m pretty sure we’ll perform well.
“And, whatever happens, still we’ll have many, many games to play. This is a really important game for the title challenge, but I still have the feeling that many things are going to happen.”
Guardiola has refused to get drawn into a war of words ahead of the game after Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold claimed winning trophies meant more to the Merseyside club than City.
Guardiola insists what people outside of the club have to say has no impact.
He said: “We have a public job and the job cannot be done without the opinion of the external people, so it’s normal.
“There are good ones and bad ones, it’s not a problem. We have to live with that, we have to deal with that, otherwise you cannot be in that world.
“But at the end, inside of the ropes, we know who we are, what we have to do.”