Ilkay Gundogan reveals how Man City will approach ‘must-win Liverpool clash

Ilkay Gundogan has admitted Manchester City’s trip to Anfield feels like a ‘must-win’ game this weekend but implied the team are capable of beating Liverpool.

City’s dreadful run continued on Tuesday night when the Blues allowed a three-goal lead to slip against Feyenoord in the Champions League, as the Dutch side scored three in 14 minutes to rescue a point at the Etihad.

It continued the winless run of six games and while the 3-3 draw ended the five-match losing streak, in many ways the capitulation felt worse than some of those recent defeats. City’s players are simply bereft of confidence, can’t control the midfield or sustain a solid performance over 90 minutes.

They’re not the sort of qualities a side heading to Anfield want, but that’s exactly what faces Pep Guardiola’s team this weekend. Liverpool have been in incredible form so far this season and have won 10 of their 12 Premier League matches, while travelling to Merseyside has always been an issue for Guardiola, who has never won at the stadium when fans have been in attendance.

Therefore, hope of coming away with a win is low among the fans, although Gundogan said it could be an opportunity to dramatically turn around the team’s fortunes.

“Anfield is always tough, no matter the situation,” the 34-year-old said after the 3-3 draw on Tuesday night. “We've struggled in recent years going there.

“We know Liverpool are a great team full of confidence right now. It's going to be as tough as it is possible to be, but that sums up the situation right now. It seems we have to go through this season the toughest way possible.

“Obviously we've done this ourselves a little bit but hopefully we can get out of that as quickly as possible, especially in such a big game. It would give ourselves a boost to perform well and then obviously to get something out of the game. That is how we will approach the game.

“I think today and in the last games, even though the Tottenham result [on Saturday] was incredible, the sensation I had was we were still able to perform for periods on a high level. The result didn't show this at all, in the end. Tottenham played well and deserved to win but we have to use in this situation, these moments to lift ourselves up and to get up as quickly as possible.”

A win for Liverpool would see them move 11 points clear of City in the title race, a tally Guardiola last week said would be too big to overturn. It’s an opinion shared by Gundogan.

Asked whether he feels Sunday’s game is ‘must-win’, replied: “To stay in the title race probably yes, because 11 points would be a huge gap.

“It's still early in the season. There are still a lot of games to play and a lot of things can happen, not just on our side but at every other team. But obviously we have to look at ourselves and try to do the things we can do better, as quick as possible.”