Jurgen Klopp delivered a brutally honest response when asked about facing Manchester City in their next Premier League game, following Liverpool's 3-2 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday evening.
The Reds were second best at the Emirates Stadium as Mikel Arteta's side secured a vital three points thanks to a brace from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli's fine strike. Darwin Nunez and Roberto Firmino found the net for Klopp's men as they suffered their second league defeat of the season, although they are now winless in three in the top-flight.
Liverpool's afternoon went from bad to worse when Klopp confirmed that Trent Alexander-Arnold and Luis Diaz suffered injuries in the game, with the Reds boss confirming "it doesn't look good" for the pair. Although he didn't reveal the time frame of the two injuries, with just a week to go until that crunch clash with City, Klopp will be fearing that the duo might miss that game.
Apart from playing an in-form Arsenal side, it doesn't get much tougher than facing City with Pep Guardiola's men the only unbeaten team in the top divisions of English football at the moment. City have won seven of their opening nine league matches, drawing the other two.
When asked about playing Guardiola's side, Klopp bluntly responded: "Is that the perfect opponent for finding confidence back? Probably not."
City possess one of Europe's best finishers, too, with Erling Haaland scoring 20 goals in his first 12 matches at the club. He has already struck three hat-tricks in the Premier League and doesn't look like slowing down any time soon, while Phil Foden and Kevin de Bruyne are working their magic in an in-form City side.
The Reds haven't won in the Premier League since August - a dramatic 2-1 victory over Newcastle United - which followed up that 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth. Their performance at Arsenal encapsulated a team that is lacking confidence and that was demonstrated within the first few minutes against Arsenal as they conceded the first goal.
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The Gunners started the game brightly and took the lead on two minutes as Martinelli coolly slotted home the opener to give them the perfect start. Liverpool responded well to going behind and levelled on the half hour mark as Nunez tucked home from close-range following an excellent delivery from Diaz.
However, Arteta's side regained the lead on the stroke of half-time when Martinelli's cross found Saka at the back post and he did the rest, stroking into an empty net. The Reds levelled for a second time in the 53rd minute as Roberto Firmino finished off a fine move to spark delirium in the away end.
A topsy-turvy evening at the Emirates wasn't finished there as Arsenal nicked it through Saka's penalty to leave the Reds in 10th, with just two wins from their first eight Premier League matches.
