Pep Guardiola says it doesn’t make any difference to his players if people and pundits claim his team are favourites to beat Manchester United.

The Spaniard pointed out that where the Manchester clubs finished in the Premier League table, previous form or even past meetings have no bearing on a one off game at a neutral venue.

He also added that expectations placed on his players by the media and pundits are always incredibly – and perhaps unfairly – high. “We are used to it,” said Guardiola.

“Starting from September, October [they say] we would win Champions League and Premier League by 25 points – every year. We say, ‘okay you’re right’ and they say it’s boring. When you win one point or two points over Liverpool many times and Arsenal it’s not boring. If you tell me we would win the title by 15, 20 points every season, I would say, yes, it’s boring. But it’s not going to happen.

“People think what’s going to happen because we ended 31 points ahead of United and so it will be easy – I understand that. But this is a different competition. It is one game [and everything can happen]. “It can be 10 v 11, bad decisions, mistakes and you can lose a game.

“We know we can lose a game. In a long period we have been better than United this year. It’s obvious. It’s facts. Every game, we are there.”