Guardiola, Klopp to pit wits at Anfield

Former Bundesliga foes will renew rivalry in Premier League on Saturday

LONDON: Pep Guardiola confronts one of the few opposition managers to have regularly outwitted him when Manchester City visit Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool in the Premier League's stand-out New Year's Eve fixtures.

Klopp was a constant thorn in Guardiola's side during their time as rivals in the Bundesliga, with his Borussia Dortmund team overcoming the Catalan's Bayern Munich four times in eight meetings.

Liverpool go into Saturday's game at Anfield a point above City in second place and while Klopp says past encounters will count for little, he is relishing the prospect of resuming hostilities.

"We know everything about how Pep played with Bayern, but that is not important anymore because it is different players and different systems," said Klopp. "In Holland it was Johan Cruyff and Total Football. He (Guardiola) was very nearly perfect with Barcelona. He had a big influence with Bayern and changed their style completely."

The Reds boss continued: "He is an outstanding manager, 100 per cent. I am not interested too much in giving things a name, but you can see on the pitch he is an influential manager. He has a clear idea and a pretty much good idea. He has had a fantastic career until now."

Guardiola arrived in Munich in 2013, shortly after Bayern had pipped Klopp's Dortmund to glory in the Bundesliga and German Cup and beaten them 2-1 in the Champions League final at Wembley.

Bayern swept to the Bundesliga title in Guardiola's three seasons in Bavaria and Klopp left Dortmund after a disappointing seventh-place finish in the 2014-15 campaign.

But the bespectacled former Mainz coach gave Guardiola several bloody noses, beating him in the 2013 German Super Cup and inflicting his first home league defeat with a 3-0 win in April 2014.

Dortmund also beat Bayern in the 2014 Super Cup and eliminated them in the semi-finals of the German Cup in 2015.

Defence the foundation for Chelsea surge, says Courtois

Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois believes the key to their stunning turnaround in form lies in the defence that has conceded just two goals during the club's 12-game winning streak.

The Premier League leaders face Stoke City next at Stamford Bridge on Saturday aiming to secure a 13th consecutive league win in a run that started in the wake of a humiliating 3-0 defeat at Arsenal.

But while forwards Diego Costa and Eden Hazard, together with inspirational midfielder N'Golo Kante, have attracted most praise in recent weeks, Courtois says the revamped back-line has laid the foundations for the upturn in form.

He believes the defence has been transformed by Conte's decision to switch to three following the Arsenal loss.

"Letting in only two goals is amazing. After that Arsenal game we had to build a new thing and we did it well, and there is a lot of hard work in training. It was not just that we did a new formation and it will work," Courtois told Chelseafc.com.

"As a goalkeeper it doesn't change much but now we are more solid at the back than at the beginning of the season, it is harder for people to break us down, and when they do try to score a goal I try to save it."