“I’m not the type of guy who keeps a tally of that kind of thing,” he said.

“Of course, I want to score as much as I can to help the team win and, if that’s the way it panned out against Liverpool so far, then I hope I can keep the streak going at the Etihad in this meeting... and dispel it when we next face them at Anfield. Football always gives a chance to even the score.”

With Manchester City heading into the match seven points adrift of Liverpool, the encounter is being seen as one that could potentially decide the title, but if City can win, then it is game on again, as Pep Guardiola’s side look to make it back-to-back successes.

City responded to shock losses against Crystal Palace and Leicester by beating Southampton on Sunday, and Aguero believes they must focus on their own strengths rather than the threat of Liverpool.

He said: “Liverpool’s growth as a team can be tracked from a few years back.

Their showing in the Champions League was a testament of that, and they are performing very well this Premier League season, but our focus should be on our own game.

"We are confident in our playing style and we believe it’s the most effective to lead us to victory.

“There’s no denying it is a huge game for both clubs. Direct clashes between leading teams have a major impact towards the end of the season.

"December didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to and now we’ve got more ground to make up so, yes, that makes the game even more important, but we are only in January and there are still plenty of Premier League games ahead of us and, from the looks of it, there are three or four teams angling to win the title. It’s going to come down to the wire,” predicted Aguero.

“Of course, we knew repeating last year’s success wouldn’t be a simple task, but we always aim for excellence.”