London, Jun 25 (IANS): Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on Pep Guardiola's Manchester City, saying he has a lot of respect for their nearest rivals in the English Premier League.

Liverpool are on the cusp of capturing their first English title in 30 years and on course to break records recently set by defending champions City coached by Spaniard Guardiola.

Liverpool thrashed Crystal Palace 4-0 on Wednesday night and opened up a gap of 23 points on City -- and will take their crown if Guardiola's men do not beat Chelsea on Thursday night.

"I couldn't respect City more," he told Sky Sports.

"Their football team is unbelievable, I really like the football they play a lot. We are different, we have to be different, we cannot be like Man City.

"We can be just as good, and that's what we want to be, and we probably celebrate different things when they happen on the pitch. That's completely fine and we respect that."

Meanwhile, Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah expressed his happiness after the team took another big step towards winning the Premier League title.

Goals from Trent-Alexander Arnold, Salah, Fabinho and Sadio Mane helped 'The Reds' to a 4-0 win and they are now within touching distance of winning their first league title in 30 years.

"I feel great," Salah told Sky Sports. "Since I came here I said I want to win the Premier League with the team. The city didn't win it for a long time, so it was the right time.

"Maybe last year we had a chance to win it but Man City also performed really good and they deserved to win it. It's our time to win it and it's great."