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Rafa Benitez’s side have made their best start to the season for several years and are be talked of as genuine title contenders in some quarters.
But the City boss is relishing the prospect of taking on the Reds for the first time since his arrival at the Club in the summer, with Liverpool’s level of expectations something that he thinks City should want to emulate in the future.
He says, “The focus on this game is maybe different after the takeover here, but people have to understand that Liverpool have been a top club for a long, long time and we have aspirations to be up there one day - but we’re not there yet. We’ll be realistic in our aspirations this year, but we’ll give it a good shot.
“I saw Liverpool in midweek and they were very accomplished. Obviously they’re very experienced in Europe and look very adept at what they are doing. They’re big, strong and powerful, with good players in key areas of the field so it will be a big test for us. It’s not one we are going to shirk, we are looking forward to it.
“It was important for us to get Thursday’s game out of the way, we came out of it with a positive so that sets us up very nicely for the Liverpool game.”
The recent takeover at City and some big money signings have seen increased focus on the Club’s ambitions from outside, but Hughes insists that his side will develop over the course of the season and that is wrong to make judgements on progress this early in the season.
“We’re only six or seven games into the Premier League season”, he continues, “ so I still think it would be a little unfair to judge us solely on the games we’ve played up to this point. Talk to me again in the New Year and maybe we might be in a better position to have a go. We’re confident and are playing well, scoring goals and creating chances, so that’s what we have to do against a top team. If we do that then we can cause anybody a problem.
“We’re at home and playing well there, creating chances, so we’re going to have a real go. Against Liverpool, maybe those chances won’t be as many as other games, but the key is to get the ones that do present themselves to us.”
Looking at today’s opponents more closely, Hughes is wary of two key players despite their achieving significant goals of their in Europe this week
“Robbie Keane hasn’t scored for them in the Premier League so he’ll be looking to sort that out. We’ll hope to make sure he doesn’t get any chances and is left to wait a little bit longer.
“Steven Gerrard is an exceptionally good player and showed his worth again on Wednesday. But the key to Liverpool at this moment in time is that they are playing with a lot of confidence and they’re winning games that maybe in previous seasons they struggled to do so.
“I think they have the capacity to ask questions of any team, home or away, so we have to be ready for the test ahead of us. We’re looking forward to it and there’s going to be a great atmosphere.
“We have had fantastic crowds here this season and there’s real enthusiasm and a real buzz about the place. We want that to continue, it’s another sell out at the weekend, but from our part we need to give positive performances and get positive results.”
On the injury front, it looks as though Richard Dunne will be given as long as possible to see if he is fit enough, as the Manager concludes by saying:
“There was a little bit of tightness in Richard’s hamstring after the game against Wigan. He’s had treatment all week and hasn’t joined in training, so we weren’t going to risk him on Thursday, but hopefully he’ll be an option for Liverpool.”
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