Pep Guardiola doesn't want to focus on anything but his own Manchester City side this weekend - telling his players that if the Liverpool crowd at Anfield begin to influence the referee, they must simply perform better to try and win.

The build-up to City's title showdown with Liverpool on Sunday has been dominated by Trent Alexander-Arnold's claim that their successes 'mean more' than City's due to the 'financial situations' of the side. While Guardiola opted to remain silent on the comments, Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias hit back, with Jurgen Klopp defending his player.

Guardiola insisted that criticism of City is normal, saying he or his players cannot control what others think of the club. "We are in a world that the people have an opinion," he said. "What the right back from Liverpool has said, a lot of people think. It's not new, not necessary to say much.

"It's normal. We have a public job, the job cannot be done without opinion of external people, it's normal - good ones and bad ones. Not a problem, we have to deal with that. Otherwise cannot be in that world. At the end, inside the ropes, we know who we are and we have to do it."

The manager had previously sought to play down the impact of the Anfield crowd and atmosphere on Friday, but was later asked whether he felt that referees can sometimes be influenced by officiating at Liverpool.

Guardiola wouldn't endorse the question, but simply told his players to ensure that any outside influence does not have a bearing on the result.