PREMIER LEAGUE
Pep Guardiola vs Jürgen Klopp: who will come out on top this weekend?
Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp will go head-to-head in the Premier League on Saturday.
Manchester City and Liverpool meet at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday as the Premier League’s top two teams do battle. Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp has won twelve of the 28 games in which his teams have faced Pep Guardiola’s teams. The German tactician is the coach Pep has faced the most times at City and is also the one who has beaten him the most times. The rivalry began in Germany until the arrival of both in the Premier League. In eight meetings between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich in all competitions, there was never a draw, with each coach winning four times and losing as many.
European success
Guardiola took the reins at Manchester City in the summer of 2016, while Klopp arrived at Liverpool with the 2016/17 season already underway. The two teams began a rivalry that over the next few seasons attracted plenty of attention. Liverpool knocked City out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals of the 2017/18 season, a year before lifting the trophy in Madrid.
Guardiola at home
The Catalan coach held Klopp at bay in 2020 and 2021, winning twice and drawing three times, before Liverpool beat City three times in 2022. The last two matches, however, have gone in favour of City, who knocked Liverpool out of the League Cup in the quarter-finals last season and defeated them at the end of the campaign with a 4-1 win. Both clashes were played at the Etihad Stadium, where Guardiola has been able to beat Klopp.
Liverpool have only won on one of their nine visits to City under the German’s leadership. City, with Pep at the helm, have won five of those meetings, scoring 23 goals and conceding 10. In the next chapter of this rivalry, Guardiola will have the opportunity to add as many wins as defeats against Klopp, and in the process, move four points ahead of him at the top of the Premier League standings.
AS prediction
With City having home advantage, we believe that Guardiola will come out on top on Saturday.
Prediction: Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool