Pep Guardiola credits Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool for raising Premier League standards over the years | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has credited Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool sides for the incredible rise in standards in the Premier League over the years.

The Blues enjoyed a sensational rivalry with Liverpool under Klopp, with the duo fighting it out in arguably the greatest title races the English top-flight has ever seen.

City won the 2018-19 Premier League title with 98 points after usurping Liverpool, who were leading the table by seven points in January 2019, and ended up losing out to Guardiola and co by just one point as they finished the season with 97 points.

Three years on, it was again a sole point that separated two of the greatest sides in Premier League history as Manchester City clinched their fourth league title under Guardiola with 93 points – and Liverpool just fell short after finishing with 92 points.

Liverpool saw Klopp pass the baton to Arne Slot in 2024 and the Reds won the Premier League title in their first season under their current manager, who recently admitted that he doesn’t enjoy watching the Premier League as much due to growing dominance of set-pieces.

In a press conference ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League meeting with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night, Guardiola was asked whether his club and Liverpool under Klopp have set the bar very high over the years.

“I agree with you. Sorry to tell you, but they were so good. The level was outstanding. You don’t make more than 90 points in that league. And I’m pretty sure that league in that moment, always the teams were really good, I think. But, for example, Arsenal fans when they score a goal in set pieces, they are so happy.

“And I’m pretty sure the manager (Mikel Arteta) is happy and the players are so happy. And I’m pretty sure you asked all the Arsenal fans who say, ‘Don’t change (for) one second our set-pieces’ and have the feeling, when they go to set-pieces, ‘Wow I’m going to score’. And I’m pretty sure all the teams want to create that vibe.

“For example, our team is struggling a little bit more. It is what it is. So, enjoyable or not, maybe I don’t agree with the people saying that the league is not good this season, the winner will not be good. I don’t agree. So it’s tougher. It’s really, really tough. Look at Wolves, they’re in the bottom and I see them – how tough it is, you know?

“Arsenal could not win and they beat Aston Villa – who for me, Unai (Emery) for me is one of my mirrors as a manager, I learned a lot watching them, incredibly well-prepared. So I think it’s because it’s really, really tough. Look at Nottingham Forest, you see individual player by player, I say, ‘How is they struggling?!’.

“And I’m pretty sure it’s for emotional issues, no more than that. Sometimes the dynamic, your expectations last season, Europa League, for nothing were not in the Champions League, and the expectations are high, you cannot handle it better and maybe, I don’t know. And it is what it is. So I think year by year, Premier League is more tougher.

“The quality of the managers rises a lot. They have incredible staff, knowledge for everything. They see what you do. When you make one game in one way, you make something, the next game against them, you cannot surprise them because they re-analyse, they make a counter-action for that.

“Many of these kind of things happen today in modern football, especially in the Premier League. So that’s why I give a lot of credit to my team to be there. Even not scoring, like you said and I didn’t know that, from set-pieces, I love still to be there.”

City are searching for a seventh consecutive win in all competitions when Nottingham Forest visit the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night, having maintained the pressure on Arsenal with a fine run of form through February.