Ahead of Sunday's Premier League clash between Manchester City and Liverpool, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Jurgen Klopp's record against Pep Guardiola.

In what has already been billed as a Premier League title-decider, Manchester City welcome Liverpool to the Etihad for Sunday's top-of-the-table showdown.

Pep Guardiola's side sit just one point clear at the summit heading into the weekend, and the victor of this game - if there is one - will have one hand on the Premier League crown before the final seven games of the season.

Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp have been familiar foes in the Bundesliga and Premier League down the years, and both managers know what it takes to get one over the other.

Ahead of Sunday's behemoth of a match, Sports Mole takes a closer look at Klopp's record against Guardiola.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola speaks to Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp during their Premier League clash at Anfield on October 7, 2018 © Reuters

Klopp has faced Guardiola more times than any other manager in his professional career - 22 times to be exact - and in that time, he has gleaned nine wins, four draws and nine defeats from meetings with the Catalan coach.

A tally of nine losses is the most that Klopp has suffered against a single opponent, but he has only won more times against Thomas Tuchel (10) and Dieter Hecking (11) as a coach.

Eight of Klopp's 22 meetings with Guardiola came when both men plied their trade at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively, and it would be the German who would come out on top in the inaugural meeting - a 4-2 German Super Cup triumph in July 2013.

The two would then make a habit of winning one then losing one against each other in the German footballing landscape, but Klopp only won one of his four Bundesliga clashes with Guardiola's Bayern - losing the other three.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola pictured on November 8, 2020 © Reuters

Guardiola's first battle with Klopp's Liverpool in the Premier League saw the Reds run out 1-0 winners on New Year's Eve 2016, and the German would only lose one of his first seven battles with the Catalan's Man City side in all competitions.

That run includes a period of three successive victories between January and April 2018, with a 4-3 Premier League success preceding 3-0 and 2-1 triumphs in the quarter-finals of that season's Champions League.

However, victories against Guardiola have since been hard to come by for the Liverpool boss, who has witnessed his Reds side win just one of their last eight with City in all competitions - a 3-1 Premier League success in November 2019.

The 2-2 draw at Anfield earlier this season marked Liverpool's fourth game in a row without victory against Guardiola's Man City, and Klopp has all the motivation that he needs to reverse that trend on Sunday.