Gary Neville does not expect Aston Villa to be any more motivated to beat Manchester City because of their Liverpool connections.
Villa face City on the final day of the season, and they can have an almighty say on the Premier League title race.
Liverpool must better Manchester City’s result on the final day to win the title, and they face Wolves.
The inevitable link in this situation is to Steven Gerrard, who is in charge of Villa, and perhaps Philippe Coutinho, the former Reds midfielder who is not at Villa Park.
Some speculative Liverpool fans believe Gerrard could get his Villa side extra motivated for the City clash due to his Anfield links.
But according to Sky Sports pundit Neville, Villa are going to treat the game like any other, regardless of how Gerrard might dress it up.
“I don’t buy into this Steven Gerrard thing, at all,” said Neville. “The fact that he is going to go there and he’s going to get them fired up.
“Trust me, the Villa players won’t give two hoots who they are playing on Sunday. They aren’t connected to the Liverpool emotion bit.
“Steven Gerrard can’t go in and say ‘I am ex-Liverpool, make sure you win this one for Liverpool’. The players will just laugh at him.
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“So, this idea that Gerrard thing and he will win against Man City is absolute nonsense. That’s not going to happen.
“The Villa players, none of them, Coutinho? Connections to Liverpool, anybody else? Danny Ings. Those Villa players aren’t thinking about helping Liverpool, at all – don’t get caught up in that. It’s pure media stuff.”
Both City and Liverpool are home on the final day, and one point separates the two, with the former having a healthy goal difference advantage.