The skipper, in his tenth campaign with the Blues, is as pivotal as ever to the team’s success and as you’d expect, he will lead from the front.
Quoted in the Daily Mail, Kompany said: ‘It starts from now, really. Until the international break I didn’t really think too much about it but we go to Goodison Park and we go to Anfield.
‘That’s as hard as it gets but we worked hard this season to be in this position. It’s a good two weeks for us to look forward.
‘We’ve got a big squad, and a down-to-earth squad. We know that as much as we’ve been incredible this season that these games are against teams like United who will want to hurt us.
‘Liverpool has been the toughest game so far for us this season. So, go steady and we’ll get there and prepare well and be in the best condition to have a good result.
‘Everyone can see what Liverpool are about. They are a very hard-working team, they have goal scoring threats all over the pitch, not just the main guys.
‘They have strengthened defensively. They are further along as a team than they were earlier in the season and you can see it in the way they’ve been playing recently.’
And, as a famous Irish comedian once claimed, there’s more.
ESPN the players are ready for the run-in and that boss Pep Guardiola won’t accept anything less than total focus and total commitment.
‘What I think is the most impressive thing about [Guardiola] is the way he always wants to win more and more.
‘When you win 10 times in a row, he wants to win the 11th and then the 12th.
‘And when you win 20, he wants go for the 21st, so his ambition and his hunger to win things are something impressive.
‘(The Premier League) is obviously one of the most exciting, if not, the most exciting league in the world.
‘Wherever you play, the stadiums are always full.
‘The league is very competitive, very physical. The referees don’t whistle as much as the other league, so it’s been a great experience so far for me and I’m very happy to be part of the Premier League.
‘Everything was great in the beginning. The staff, the players, all the fans. The welcome was fantastic. It helped my adaption to the club and city because it’s never easy to change league and to change your club.
‘But with this fantastic staff, players and all the fans as well, it was much easier for me.’
Finally, a snippet of team news from Football Insider (via The Sun) concerning one of Liverpool’s bright young stars of the campaign.
They write: “Joe Gomez has been ruled out of Liverpool’s Champions League double header against Manchester City – and fans have taken to Twitter to express their frustration and anger.
“The Sun claim that the right-sided defender is set to be side-lined for four weeks with the ankle injury he suffered while on England duty in their win over Holland last Friday night.
“It is said that Gomez, 20, is ruled out of both legs of the quarter-final against City and is sweating on being available for the semi-finals if Liverpool make it to the next round.”
That’s it for today – more of the same tomorrow…
