Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has insisted he'd rather his team be in all four competitions for as long as possible, despite Liverpool now having a reduced fixture list.
Guardiola's City host Burton Albion tonight in the first-leg of the semi-final of the Carabao Cup (image via Manchester City).
Liverpool were knocked out of the FA Cup on Monday night by Wolves and the Reds will only have to play three more games in January, all in the league.
Whereas City, Liverpool's title rivals, will play six more games in January, with three league games as well as three cup ties.
"I don't know (if fewer games gives Liverpool an advantage) - I don't have a theory from my experience about that," Guardiola said.
"If everyone is fit and not injured we can cope with it. The problem is if you have 10 injured players, then it's almost impossible.
"I'm not involved in what my opponents do. The reality for Jurgen (Klopp, Liverpool manager) is he knows exactly what happened.
"Of course you need a big squad - without quality you can't even win one trophy. With the quality and amount of players we have, you can do it, because the team is always stable."
City reduced the deficit between them and leaders Liverpool last Thursday with a 2-1 win at the Etihad Stadium.
However, Guardiola was asked if there was any truth in the speculation that City instructed their groundstaff to grow the grass longer than usual to disrupt the speed of Liverpool. But Guardiola was quick to laugh off the question.
"I never did, if Liverpool want to play quick, we want to play quicker, so never we manipulated," Guardiola insisted.
Sergio Aguero scoring the opener in City's 2-1 win over the Reds last week (image via AOL).
"Normally when this kind of thing happens, always at the end, karma or something like that, punishes you.
"I trust the greenkeepers, but we put the grass in the best conditions for both teams. Never I made a phone call to one to say, 'Do this kind of thing to damage our opponents'."