Liverpool boss is expecting a stormy battle tonight.. just like last time the heavyweights clashed at the Etihad

THIS time, it is not a threegoal deficit facing Manchester City at the Etihad.

This time, it is seven points and if that gap widens after the Premier League’s game of the season, Pep Guardiola’s hopes of defending a title won in such swashbuckling style will be all but over.

That is why Jurgen Klopp in expecting another ‘thunderstorm’ in Manchester.

The last occasion Liverpool visited, it was with a handsome first-leg lead in a Champions League quarter-final.

Gabriel Jesus scored as City and Raheem Sterling (above) tore into Liverpool from the off and only an error by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz deprived the home team of a two-goal half-time lead.

“It was a thunderstorm,” Klopp recalled. “They said before the game they could do it from 3-0 down and everyone knew they could. We knew it as well.” And is he expecting a similar ‘thunderstorm’?

“I think we should,” he said. “It will be a very intense game.

“It is unbelievable how obvious their desire is. Last season, they got 100 points and people say, ‘How can they do that again?’

“But they worked that way. Ruthless, full of desire, greedy. December was not their month but now it is January.”

Getting past City and reaching the Champions League final meant this Liverpool team had created its own identity and got rid of what he calls the ‘backpack’ of history, Klopp insisted.

“We have got no problems with comparisons,” he explained.

“But at some point, you have to be yourself and not try to be like someone else. Last season we were absolutely ourselves.”

And this season, going into a defining contest, Klopp believes they have taken another step forward.

He said: “We are a different team as well. We have improved since last year, as we had to. These boys are of a different level and quality, that is true.

“I trust them 100 per cent. We are all in this situation, we are all in the same mood. That is the mood in which we go to City.”

It cannot be anything but a positive mood, considering 20 Premier League games have brought 17 victories and three draws.

Klopp acknowledges crucial moments have gone in Liverpool’s favour during that run, not least Riyad Mahrez wasting that match-winning chance from the penalty spot at Anfield in October.

Klopp said: “You cannot be unbeaten so far if you don’t have luck. You need luck.

“We didn’t have a lot in the years before and not a lot this season but we had these moments when Mahrez missed the penalty and then the goal we scored against Everton.

“But I would say, even then, we deserved to win against Everton and we deserved the point against Manchester City.

“And that is because of the consistency in the performances so far. The boys are completely focused. The one time you are not focused, even if you are 99 per cent, you will slip. You fail. That’s how it is.”

Nothing less than 100 per cent will be needed tonight – that is the only certainty in what should be an epic battle.