Man City news conference - Guardiola on Spurs return after classic

Pep Guardiola, who confirmed that Aleksandr Zinchenko is back in training, said that Manchester City's Champions League exit 'hurts' but wants his side to take the positives from the setback in midweek.

"If you believe it doesn't hurt, you're wrong," said the City boss.

"I don't want players to forget what we left on Wednesday. We are human beings, we take time and what we leave last Wednesday in terms of emotion, we are lucky to live it with 65,000 people in the stadium.

"The players were fantastic. We lost but I was so proud. The performance we did was incredible."

SMS Message: Title race will be decided by whether we beat Spurs or not. A City win will go a long way to helping us get over that gutting result in the CL, and we'll crack on and win their remaining games. If we lose, it'll totally knock us off our stride and give Liverpool a huge boost. from Daniel

Title race will be decided by whether we beat Spurs or not. A City win will go a long way to helping us get over that gutting result in the CL, and we'll crack on and win their remaining games. If we lose, it'll totally knock us off our stride and give Liverpool a huge boost.

In this week's Premier League predictions, Lawro is up against a super-computer - called 'RED' - which has been programmed to predict the Easter results.

On this game, Lawro said: "Surely City won't be as open in this game as they were on Wednesday night - they cannot afford to invite any more chaos this time.

"With Harry Kane out injured, City must have known Spurs would want to play on the break with pace so I did not understand why Fernandinho did not start, because his game is all about protecting their back two or back four.

"City have got enough players who can go and win them the game without being so gung-ho about it, and I thought they missed the Brazilian midfielder in that crazy opening spell when Son Heung-min scored twice.

"So I would expect Fernandinho to start on Saturday and, if he is patrolling those deep midfield areas, I think City will control the game this time far better than they did in midweek."

Lawro's prediction: 2-0. RED's prediction: 2-0.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Premier League rivals Liverpool do not play their game at Cardiff until Sunday (16:00 BST) so City have the chance to return to the top of the table.

They are two points behind the Reds with a game in hand - the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Wednesday, 24 April (20:00 BST).

City boss Pep Guardiola said: "The title race for us is Tottenham at 12.30pm. What Liverpool do at Cardiff I cannot control."

After going out of the Champions League on Wednesday, City's hopes of winning an unprecedented quadruple are over.

Asked if he was relieved the quadruple talk was over, Guardiola replied: "No. I would prefer to be in the semi-final of the Champions League."

Ryan Flint: I honestly see Liverpool winning the double, UCL and PL! They have a great level of confidence and patience in their team. Get a draw, or a narrow loss or even a win at Barca and they’re in with a huge shout surely!

Pep Guardiola has spoken to the media and he doesn't expect either Tottenham or his Manchester City side to ease up after Wednesday's dramatic Champions League game.

"I think the game against Spurs will be just as intense as the other day," he said.

"I think both teams are going to attack. It's not easy as they're a top team but we will try."

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Aaron Ramsey is leaving for Juventus in the summer and it's been reported that Arsenal are interested in signing Hoffenheim's Kerem Demirbay as a replacement.

The Gunners have been linked with a £22m deal for the 25-year-old Germany forward.

Arsenal will be without Aaron Ramsey after the midfielder suffered a hamstring injury in Thursday's Europa League win over Napoli and - with a summer move to Juventus already agreed - the Wales international may have played his last game for the Gunners.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos serves the last of a two-game ban for collecting 10 bookings while Denis Suarez (groin) will be assessed ahead of the match, with long-term absentees Danny Welbeck (ankle), Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin (both knee) still missing.

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Boss Neil Warnock hopes Cardiff City will avoid a "battering" as his side aim to boost their survival prospects and dent Liverpool's Premier League title bid.

Cardiff, who are 18th and two points adrift of safety, have lost all 10 of their matches against top-six sides this season, conceding 31 goals. Liverpool are top of the table and on an eight-match winning run.

Warnock said: "We've just got to try and give a good account of ourselves for the fans that are going because it's a sell-out and it probably could've sold out twice more as well.

"It's going to be a great day but I don't want it to be a lovely occasion but we still get battered."

SMS Message: Can we all just thank Jurgen Klopp for persuading Van Dijk to come to Liverpool. Just imagine what Man City would've been like if they'd matched Southampton's fee. from Jack

Can we all just thank Jurgen Klopp for persuading Van Dijk to come to Liverpool. Just imagine what Man City would've been like if they'd matched Southampton's fee.

Click here to have your say and see who 21 BBC football pundits chose as their top performers for 2018-19.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp also said that Cardiff pose a different threat now to the one they did a couple of weeks ago, having been rejuvenated by Tuesday's win at relegation rivals Brighton.

"Neil [Warnock] and Cardiff have gained a lot of confidence in the last game and rightly so," he said.

"It was a massive game against Brighton, if Cardiff had lost that game then the fight for the league would be finished but now it starts again for all the teams.

"Everything came together and that's what makes football so exciting. They believe in their chances and I would do the same, so we have to show we are ready for this battle."

While Liverpool were cruising to a 4-1 win in Porto on Wednesday in the Champions League, title rivals Manchester City suffered a dramatic exit against Tottenham after Raheem Sterling's late disallowed goal.

Asked if it could affect the title race, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said: "I've no idea, but it was unbelievable, eh? Seeing that, I just really felt for them. That's how it is. Everybody thought the ball was in and the whole stadium is celebrating.

"I know some people say without VAR it's a clear goal but it was offside in that moment. Nobody really doubts that, but that's tough to take, I'm 100% sure."

Jurgen Klopp has now spoken to the media and said that his title-chasing Liverpool side will attach just as much importance to their Premier League games against relegation-threatened Cardiff and already-relegated Huddersfield as to their Champions League semi-final against Barcelona.

"These are all massive games," he said. "None of them are won before we start.

"Everybody thinks a lot about Barcelona but before Barcelona it's Cardiff and Huddersfield and it's exactly the same importance to us as the other games."

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Harry Arter has been ruled out for Cardiff after missing Tuesday's 2-0 win at Brighton with a calf strain. The Bluebirds hope the Republic of Ireland midfielder will be back for next weekend's trip to Fulham.

Aron Gunnarsson faces a late check after being forced off at Brighton with a back spasm and fellow midfielder Leandro Bacuna stands by to replace the Iceland international following his impressive midweek second-half performance.

Jake Leslie: Am I the only one who thinks that both european finals will be all English?

Tottenham will host Ajax in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday, 30 April, with the second leg in Amsterdam on Wednesday, 8 May.

Liverpool will travel to Barcelona for their first leg on Wednesday, 1 May before hosting the Spanish side in the reverse fixture on Tuesday, 7 May.

In between, the Reds are due to visit Newcastle for their penultimate game of the Premier League season on Sunday, 5 May (16:30 BST).

Could they be in a position to clinch the title on that day? Click here to have your say on who will win the Premier League.

Tottenham’s match with Bournemouth was supposed to be played on 6 May, two days before the second leg against Ajax in Holland. It will now be re-arranged.

At Spurs' news conference on Thursday, George Cummins asked boss Mauricio Pochettino whether Tottenham should get an extra day's rest and receive more help from the Premier League.

Pochettino said: “It’s going to be tough because when you see the schedule and fixture list you can only move one day before, maybe Sunday or Saturday to play Bournemouth. We will see. We are talking.

"I don’t expect too much because the dates are so tight and difficult. I think with the semi-finals we need to be sure that for both teams we have the same days, the same gap between the last game between the first leg and the last leg. Both teams deserve to have the same preparation.”

Several Premier League managers, including Tottenham's Mauricio Pochettino and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, have been asking all season why the league doesn't do more to help English clubs with regards to scheduling fixtures around European games, so they'd love this...

Dutch football chiefs have cancelled a full round of Eredivisie fixtures before Ajax meet Spurs in the Champions League semi-finals.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

SMS Message: I love how well English teams are doing in Europe, but am I only one still rooting for Ajax to win the champions league. They've always had a great policy of bringing through young talent, and they play great football! from Jake, Durham

I love how well English teams are doing in Europe, but am I only one still rooting for Ajax to win the champions league. They've always had a great policy of bringing through young talent, and they play great football!

You might like this then Jake, a piece on whether we are witnessing the re-emergence of Ajax as a force in European football.

The four-time European champions will face Tottenham in the Champions League semi-finals and former academy player Jordi Cruyff, Johan's son, spoke to BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily Podcast that De Godenzonen (Sons of the Gods) about Ajax's current crop of exciting, young players.