He said: “Liverpool are a strong team. They did not sell any players from last season.

“We want to win but I have a lot of respect for them and a lot of respect for Roy Hodgson. It should be a good match.”

England midfielder James Milner could make his debut after his protracted move from Aston Villa was finally sealed last week with Stephen Ireland going the other way.

Milner is the sixth new face at the club following the likes of Jerome Boateng, David Silva, Aleksander Kolarov, Yaya Toure and Mario Balotelli, who have beaten a path to Eastlands.

Toure, who has joined his brother Kolo at the club after wearing the colours of Barcelona, is optimistic about the future.

City go into the match on the back of a 1-0 victory against Timisoara on Thursday in the Europa League play-off first leg match in Romania.

Toure said: “The championship is the most important thing for us. We want to do well as the club has signed some top quality players.

“People like myself, Silva and Balotelli have come in. I hope we do not get injuries.” as we want to keep at a high level.

“It was nice to get a win in Romania. When you play away it is not so easy. Now we need to be clever in the second game.”

Mancini is hoping Balotelli will be fit for the match. The former Inter Milan striker took a kick on the knee against Timisoara after scoring the winner on his debut.