Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho has insisted that his team currently have to forget about Liverpool and solely focus on catching Leicester City in the Premier League table.
The Citizens edged a spectacular title race with Liverpool last season but are currently 17 points behind Jurgen Klopp's table-toppers ahead of Sunday's trip to Arsenal.
City are seven points off second-placed Leicester, meanwhile, and Fernandinho has said that his side have to concentrate on overtaking the Foxes before even thinking about a title charge.
"It's been really tough, really hard for us," Goal.com quotes Fernandinho as saying. "I would have preferred to be closer to Liverpool. Maybe we thought after four titles one season, we believed something we are not. The reality of sport is to make you [win] again and again. Sometimes you have to live it.
"There isn't a thought in my mind about Liverpool. It is far away. First, we have to think about [second-place] Leicester. It helps Liverpool that they haven't won this trophy for a long time. They will smell it now."
An injury to Aymeric Laporte, coupled with Vincent Kompany's summer exit, has seen Fernandinho pressed into action in central defence over the last couple of months.
City will follow Sunday's trip to Arsenal with an EFL cup clash against Oxford United before ending 2019 with league fixtures against Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United.
