City know they can be turned over at Anfield... and that will weigh very heavily on them

I WAS there the day Manchester City last won at Anfield. Right in the front row.

Actually, it was more second row, because I started the move that led to Nico Anelka (below) scoring in the last minute, to give us a 2-1 win over our old club Liverpool. I was so knackered, I didn’t even make it to him for the celebrations!

I would have done. I’m not one of those who say you can’t celebrate against your old club. I see it now, and some kid had one game where he brought on a can of Fanta in the last minute, and years later makes an exaggerated show of not celebrating against his old club.

I love Liverpool. Obviously. They’re in my blood and when it comes down to it on Sunday afternoon, of course I want them to win against City, even though I played for both. But I’d have celebrated because it was a massive achievement.

Doesn’t matter how bad they are, what sort of level they’re at, playing them at Anfield is a tough ask for any team. And in the sort of controlled form Liverpool have been in this season, every player at City knows they’re in for a ridiculous afternoon.

I don’t actually remember too much about that goal in 2003. I know we had a good team and were great value for our win. I also know it is just crazy that City haven’t won there since, with all the incredible teams they’ve had in recent years.

Why? I honestly don’t know. There shouldn’t be these ‘hoodoo’ grounds, where you haven’t won for years. Shouldn’t because every few years, it’s a completely new set of players, IT’S good to see Gareth Southgate use this international break to take a look at some of the young players who could freshen up his squad over the coming months and years. Let’s get real here. Two starts for new manager, new outlook. Yet it still happens. This City team know they can be turned over at Anfield. It’s virtually the same team as last season which lost twice there, and were proper thumped in the European game.

That will weigh on them. Heavily. You’ve

seen it with Pep, Dortmund doesn’t make Jadon Sancho an England player yet. A few games for Derby doesn’t make Mason Mount an automatic selection.

And if we’re being brutally honest, Nathaniel Chalobah and Harry Winks have hardly done enough so far this season to he seems slightly fixated about Jurgen Klopp and how to beat his sides. He even admitted in his press conference on Friday that Liverpool have worked him out. He did finish the sentence by adding: “We won the league, mind,” and that’s the biggest point I’d make about this game, no matter what happens. City are demand they be put in. Yet no one will know these players better than Gareth, because he’s worked with most of them before in the England junior ranks. And he knows their characters, he knows their scope, their potential.

I can guarantee if any of them were not the right fit mentally, the champions for a reason, and they’re playing some incredible football.

For me, they go into the game as slight favourites, but in a way it doesn’t matter. Whether people like it or not, they are the two best teams in the Premier League, and I’m pretty sure it will be between them for the title.

Both clubs being this good at this moment and playing this brand of exciting football has done for Jose Mourinho. But it’s brilliant for English football fans, because it shows you can have success playing with ambition and adventure.

It makes this game mouthwatering. Deep down, all fans, no matter what club, will be looking forward to the game, and fascinated about the outcome. I think the CityLiverpool rivalry is fast becoming the big one in English football in a way.

Of course it was always Liverpool-United when I was playing.

But these are the games you have to turn up in, the ones you’ve been dreaming about as a kid when you put in all that hard work to get through and make it. There’s no room for freezing, no room for playing safe. If you really want it, you’ve got to take it.

We will see a lot of things from this game, and it’s pointless trying to call it, but one thing I truly believe, we will see the two teams who will contest the title. didn’t have the strength of character, then they wouldn’t have been selected.

So he’s blooding them slowly, he’s putting them in to see how they fit, how they cope, and what they can offer. Gareth has been brave, but he’s also been smart, and he deserves credit.

IT’S NOT often I agree with Gary Neville, but he was bang on when he said what a joke Manchester United have become.This is no way to treat Mourinho. This is a person with a family, with a reputation and with a job. You don’t go leaking stuff, saying he’s in danger, making it clear his days are numbered before you let him know to his face first.I don’t like it at all, and I’m sad United have become that club in recent years.They did the same to David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, let the media know before they told the manager, let them go into games thinking it was their RED ROAR Liverpool celebrate Mohamed Salah’s opening goal in their Champions League defeat of Manchester City

FIGhTING TaLK: Gary Neville gave a passionate responselast one. In the end, I suspect Gary Nev’s justified and passionate reaction on Friday night may have put the block on Mourinho’s departure for a little longer but, if it has, then it’s just a temporary stay of execution.It was interesting to see the Old Trafford board’s reaction to the initial story that Mourinho would be sacked, and then the response from people like Neville (above).They said nothing at all, but then seemed to be shamed into saying he was safe. But only for now. That was the most telling thing – that there was a massive rider to say things were not good enough and massive improvement was needed.Of course that’s not going to happen, not overnight. You don’t just simply flick a switch and everything is suddenly sweetness and light, your team is suddenly playing vibrant, brilliant attacking football.It may seem strange to say this, but I reckon Mourinho is paying the price for envy from the people surrounding Old Trafford.