Clarke in confident mood

26 November 2011 07:46

Liverpool assistant coach Steve Clarke admits the options that visitors Manchester City have at their disposal presents a significant challenge as the Reds look to extend their unbeaten run.

The Barclays Premier League leaders have dropped just two points in 12 matches this season and are five clear of neighbours Manchester United ahead of this weekend's fixtures.

"They're top of the league and they're top of the league on merit," said Clarke.

Even though City suffered a disappointing Champions League defeat to Napoli in midweek, such is the depth of quality in the squad manager Roberto Mancini can make wholesale changes to his line-up without drastically weakening the team.

Nevertheless, Clarke believes Liverpool, who have not lost in nine matches in all competitions, can match their big-spending visitors if they put in a performance like the one which brought victory at Chelsea last weekend.

"They've only dropped two points but we look forward to the challenge," he said.

"I don't think they have a main threat - they have a number of top-quality players, all capable of causing a problem.

"It's up to us as a team and as individual players to handle that threat and if we do that we'll be okay.

"We try to prepare our players and the way we want them to play.

"We feel if we can perform to our maximum, and the players can all perform to their maximum on the day, we can give any team in the Premier League a game."

Source: PA