George: City are lucky lot
Born: February 10, 1995 Age: 22 Place: Conakry, Guinea Height: 5ft 8ins (1.72m) Position: Central midfield Shirt No: 8 Bundesliga 2016-17 Career Apps Gls 2013-14: FC Istres 23 4 2014-16: RB Salzburg 59 17 2016: Red Bull Leipzig 44 10 National Caps Gls Guinea: 28 5 17-18 PL 17-18 KOP star Georginio Wijnaldum has claimed Manchester City are lucky to be so far ahead this season.
And the Dutch ace reckons Pep Guardiola and his stars have just had another slice of good fortune with Philippe Coutinho leaving for Barcelona days before today’s Anfield clash.
But while branding runaway leaders City ‘lucky’, the Liverpool midfielder can’t deny it’s their quality that has left rivals trailing.
He said: “They are more consistent than last season. They don’t give games away – they have to win. We had a couple of good games but at the end we didn’t get the result we wanted – so they also have more luck than us this season.
“But City’s way of scoring winning goals isn’t also only luck, it’s also their quality. They still focus until the last minute because they know they can make a goal. Week-in, week-out they have good performances and even if the performances aren’t that good, they still win.
“That is a big difference. Now Coutinho has gone every top team is probably happy he leaves for a team in another country – so that’s also luck for City.”
Wijnaldum, who scored the winner against City at Anfield on New Year’s Eve last season, is still smarting at the 5-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season when Sadio Mane was sent off at 1-0 for a high boot that laid out keeper Ederson.
“It was an accident,” he insisted. “Until the red card it was close – but a red card is not a guarantee that you will score five goals so they showed quality.”