Manchester City's Ederson insists Liverpool rivalry left on the pitch

Ederson says Manchester City's rivalry with Liverpool is left on the pitch and does not affect his relationship with his Brazil team-mates at Anfield.

The competition between the two clubs has intensified in recent years as City and Liverpool are now the dominant forces in English football, with Pep Guardiola's side winning the last two Premier League titles while the current league leaders have excelled in Europe in that time.

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Headlines were made last month when City forward Raheem Sterling and Liverpool defender Joe Gomez clashed while on England duty as emotions from club football spilled over.

Games between the two clubs have become feisty affairs - and their meeting at the Etihad in April could be a crunch encounter - but goalkeeper Ederson has tried to remove some of the emotion by highlighting his friendship with his fellow Brazilians in the Liverpool side.

"I have a good relationship, not only with Alisson (Becker) but also with (Roberto) Firmino and Fabinho," the 26-year-old said.

"When we have a day off in the same day, we sometimes gather, we have a barbecue. It's difficult with our routine and the amount of games to have the same day off, but we have done it a few times before. Our rivalry is only on the pitch."

Liverpool have a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League but Ederson insists City will not give up hope of chasing them down.

He said: "We know the gap is big, but we need to carry on with our job. We need to keep giving our best on the pitch, trying to win game by game.

"We know it's going to be very difficult - Liverpool are having a great season - but in football anything can happen. We need to be ready for any outcome."

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Ederson insists, however, he is not spending much of his time thinking about Liverpool. He feels the priority is simply to win games as City travel to Wolves on Friday.

He said: "I'm the type of player that only focus on my team. Obviously, at the last stages of the season, you also focus on the other contenders for the title race, but there is still a lot of the championship left.

"I'm a player that usually focuses on my team, tries to give the best for my team-mates, and I don't look much at what the other teams do."

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