Liverpool have the chance to exert some pressure on Premier League title favourites Manchester City on Saturday but manager Juergen Klopp says he does not waste one minute thinking about Pep Guardiola’s side.

Victory over relegation battlers Norwich on Saturday would allow Liverpool to close the gap on City to six points, although City are at home later against struggling Tottenham Hotspur.

“Out of all the problems I have, the smallest one is Man City. There is no minute when I think about them,” Klopp told reporters at his news conference on Friday.

Of more concern to Klopp is the ankle injury sustained by Diogo Jota during the 2-0 Champions League win away at Inter Milan on Wednesday.

“He is not available this week and still needs further assessment,” Klopp said.

“It’s something with the ligaments around the ankle. Everything is possible. It could go quickly or the other way. We have to wait but no chance for this weekend.”

Liverpool have won their last four games in the league and will be expected to sweep past a Norwich side who have given themselves a chance of surviving with a recent resurgence before last weekend’s defeat by Manchester City.

Klopp said he respects the Norfolk side’s philosophy.

“They never stop believing they can stay in the league. I admire that. You can see it in how they play. If you let them play, they play,” Klopp said.

Ralf denies rift

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick rubbished reports that there is a rift between Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo over the club’s captaincy, insisting it is he who decides who will be skipper, and the England defender will remain in place.

Maguire took to Twitter on Friday to respond to a report by British newspaper Daily Mirror that he and veteran Portuguese forward Ronaldo are embroiled in a power struggle.

“I’ve seen a lot of reports about this club that aren’t true and this is another,” he said. “Not going to start posting about everything that is written but I needed to make this one clear. We’re united and focused on Sunday.”

His coach doubled down on the opinion that such reports are simply not true.

“This is absolutely nonsense,” Rangnick told a news conference on Friday ahead of his side’s clash with Leeds United. “I have never spoken to any player about a change in captaincy, Harry is aware of that and Cristiano too.”

“It’s me who decides who is captain and I don’t have to talk to anyone else about that. Harry is our captain and he will stay our captain.”

Pep praises pilot

Manchester City’s bumpy midweek flight in from Lisbon amid high winds had everyone worried before it was diverted to Liverpool but manager Pep Guardiola praised the pilot on Friday for keeping a calm head and reassuring the passengers.

Winds from storm Dudley buffeted their flight as it attempted to land in Manchester before the pilot aborted and took the decision to land at Liverpool’s airport instead.

Storm Eunice has also wreaked havoc in Britain, with more than 400 flights cancelled.

“When I saw the video it was more scary than we felt. It was bumpy... It was a moment we were going down and immediately the engine started to roll on and we go up,” Guardiola told reporters.

“In the moment, we said ‘oh, something happened’. We had a pilot who did incredibly well to talk to us and he was so calm. We tried again to land in Manchester... then landed in Liverpool.”