Danny Mills has warned Liverpool that Manchester City may be galvanised for their upcoming meeting with the Reds despite the potentially ‘massive’ loss of Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian international suffered a concern during the Manchester-based outfit’s 0-0 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano as they progressed through to the next round of the Champions League.
“Kevin De Bruyne is a massive miss. Kyle Walker, they can probably deal with. [Joao] Cancelo slots across and [Oleksandr] Zinchenko comes in,” the 44-year-old told Football Insider. “You’re a touch weaker but they can deal with that.”
The ex-Cityens star noted that his old club would be more than prepard to ‘dig in’ and weather the storm to protect the prospect of a treble.
“The intensity of the game that City had to go through, their recovery from there plays a part,” Mills added.
“But that also put in the players’ mind that they are tough and resilient, they are up against it now.
“They’ll think ‘It’s all against us, the timing, the away leg, travel’. But we’ve just seen a display from City where they dug in, they put up a fight. We’ve not seen that too much from City. We know now they can do it.
“Liverpool have an advantage after midweek and how the games went but also, flip that around. Man City will turn up and think ‘One more game, come on, let’s just dig in like we did the other night’. They will have learnt an awful lot from that.”
With the temptation to be at the game centre, fans not attending the fixture in question can scratch their itch by taking a punt with some of the best tips on offer from Football Ground Guide.
Given that Pep Guardiola’s men are potentially set to be without key men Kyle Walker and De Bruyne, the very fabric of the game could be completely changed, which may alter how some fans wish to place their bets.
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Though it’s entirely possible that our upcoming opponents could use events to their motivational advantage, there’s plenty of incentive on our end to get a postive result.
Take, for instance, the once-in-a-lifetime prospect of a famous quadruple, the likes of which could feasibly not be seen again for decades.
On our end, we certainly have the firepower and quality available to mount a successful challenge against the league leaders, with Diogo Jota said to be the only question mark ahead of our trip to the English capital.
Following a brutal campaign last term, in which our hopes of retaining the title were cruelly brought down by a stupendous array of injuries across the squad (and, in particular, within the defensive department), we’re certainly more than owed a full squad in a crucial part of the season.
Though Jurgen Klopp will have a clear idea about the team that will be fielded in London, it’s important not to discount the potential contributions of our backup options.
In an incredibly tough month of football, getting past City here could be just the spark the players need to propel them to glory.
Given our momentum built up once more since the international break (despite two consecutive draws against the Sky Blues and Benfica), we’ll be hoping to see our hopes of a historic season live on beyond Wembley.