Pep Guardiola's sarcastic response to Trent Alexander-Arnold's comments on Liverpool success 'meaning more' than Man City trophies

Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold had provoked certain City players by telling Four Four Two this week that a greater value should be attached to the Merseysiders' triumphs: “Looking back on this era, although they’ve won more titles than us and have probably been more successful, our trophies will mean more to us and our fanbase because of the situations at both clubs financially.”

Guardiola said: "I wish him well. I wish him a speedy recovery to come back to the pitch as soon as possible."

Alexander-Arnold will miss Sunday's showdown with City at Anfield with injury. Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias both responded by goading Alexander-Arnold for City's greater level of success for Liverpool over the past decade but Guardiola did not want to add to the war of words and insisted he felt indifferent about his players' responses. "Do you think we're going to fight because Erling and Ruben talk? We are there and we know what happened over the last years and we are going to try again tomorrow and do a good game," he added.

City have only beaten Liverpool once at Anfield since 2003 and that was during the coronavirus pandemic-affected season of 2020-21, when there were no fans in the stadium. Asked why Liverpool were so hard to beat at Anfield, Guardiola said: "Especially the quality of the team. The crowd of course but especially the quality of the team. I think it will be nice because it always has been [tough] and we accept the challenge. "

Liverpool have a one-point lead over City at the top of the Premier League table while Arsenal are one point back from Guardiola's side, making this the most closely-fought title race in a decade.