John Giles believes Pep Guardiola's comments about Liverpool players diving is a sign of the Manchester City manager's worries ahead of their Premier League clash this Sunday.

The Man City boss suggested Sadio Mane had dived against Aston Villa, before retracting those comments.

John joined us on Off The Ball as always on a Thursday and reacted to the exchange of views between both clubs' managers.

But he believes Guardiola's worries are more to do with Liverpool's strengths than anything to do with diving.

"I'd say he'd be worried about them anyway. But it's unlike him to make a statement like that," he said of Guardiola.

"But it's unlike him to make a statement like that. It's not his style to do that and I was surprised at him making the statement.

"I'd say he'll be concerned about it. Liverpool are in better form than Manchester City.

"I watched Manchester City last night - I know it was the Champions League, it wasn't against Liverpool - but they weren't impressive.

Concerned

"Not only not playing well but the goalkeeper got injured. He might be fit for the weekend. But the defenders have been injured. I think Liverpool are playing better than City at the moment. If I was the Manchester City manager now, I'd be concerned about the weekend match."

But he does not think Guardiola will approach the Liverpool match any differently.

"I've never seen him go into a big match and play defensively," said John.

"I think the problem now is that he has injuries."

John also added that Kevin De Bruyne isn't back to the level of two years ago.

"He seems very temperamental to me," he said.

"If someone makes a mistake, he's throwing his arms up and it's never his fault. I hate to see that in a player. He seems to have gone very temperamental. I don't think City are at the peak they were last year or the year before. And I think Liverpool have actually improved."

You can also watch the full chat with John Giles above via our YouTube channel.