Pep Guardiola won't be distracted by Liverpool v Man United on Sunday

Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players not to be distracted by events along the M62 with their bogey team Crystal Palace lying in wait.

While the nation tunes in to Liverpool v Manchester United, Guardiola will be reminding his players of Palace’s recent record at The Etihad ahead of their evening kick off.

Roy Hodgson’s team pulled off a 3-2 win during City’s 100-point season thanks to a wonder goal from Andros Townsend and led until the final 10 minutes of last season’s 2-2 draw.

‘Crystal Palace, Crystal Palace,’ muttered Guardiola when asked about the clash between his two biggest rivals.

‘Palace is the only result I want. I want to beat them, the other match I honestly don’t care about.

‘The last two seasons at home to Palace we have got one point, that is why it’s my only concern.

‘It doesn’t matter how many games we have won. Palace is Zaha, Eze, Benteke, Roy Hodgson, Milivojevic. This is why I have been concerned about them since the day after we beat Brighton.’

For the record, City have won their last seven games in all competitions and moved into the top four despite not fielding a recognised centre-forward for a lot of the campaign.

Sergio Aguero’s stop-start season continues as he is self-isolating and ominously for the competition, Guardiola can see the focus in his players that led them to two consecutive championships before losing their crown to Liverpool.

‘I don’t think the players are upset or angry less optimistic because some people might say United and Liverpool have been better than us or we are not contenders.

The attitude is that after West Brom (1-1) we played good against Newcastle, then we went to Stamford Bridge and played good, then United, then Brighton on Wednesday.

‘If you dream being top of the league and don’t play good, you are not going to achieve it. I have the feeling the players now are committed every game to do what we have do. We’ve done that for many years. It gives me confidence to keep winning.’

Guardiola is expressing himself as much as his players and wore a t-shirt celebrating singer Nina Simone and denouncing fascism when he addressed the media on Friday.

He also gave his opinion on long covid, a rare condition among footballers but one that potentially disrupt careers. Newcastle pair Jamaal Lascelles and Alain Saint-Maximin both missed weeks rather than days after testing positive.

‘The doctors cannot say what the reaction for each person. It is a new illness so we don’t have experience,’ he said.

‘For some players, maybe is it good, we have some players who have struggled during this when tested positive and others ones who passed quietly, calm.

‘The reaction afterwards for some was tough, for one, two or three weeks was difficult. And for others, after three or four days were quite well. Which is why in any cases it is different.

‘Every person is different and we have to adapt and see, especially after the first training sessions.’

City’s game against Everton three weeks ago was postponed following a number of Covid cases in the City camp including Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus led to the closure of their training ground.