Enzo Maresca insists Manchester City are embracing the challenge of returning to Premier League action at Liverpool on Sunday, with the team's perfect start providing a welcome distraction from the storm surrounding their landmark financial case.
City travel to Anfield with five wins from five league matches and top the table, but their first game since an independent commission found them guilty of more than 100 breaches of the Premier League's financial rules over a nine-year period will be played against an unprecedented backdrop.
The club have lodged an appeal against the verdict and continue to maintain their innocence, arguing that the commission's decision contains “clear material errors” and that City have evidence supporting their position.
For Maresca, however, the focus inside his dressing room is firmly on what City can control.
“Personally I’m very calm to be honest. The club has been quite clear. We trust completely the club,” Maresca told City's in-house media on Thursday.
“The feeling is fantastic, to be honest. The players are excited for the next two games [they host Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Wednesday], but especially they are excited because in this moment, we are top of the league, so the players are just focused on that.
“They know that what we can control is the football side. They know they are professionals. They know that the noise is there, but they don't care too much about the noise.
“They are just focused on this moment, how we can beat Liverpool, how we can, together with the fans, try to win at Anfield."
Maresca's sentiments were echoed by star striker Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian, fresh from scoring three times in four Uefa Nations League matches during the international break, has called on City fans to show their support at Anfield.
“We have to stick together. We have to stay with each other, and we have to stay positive," Haaland said.
“No matter what happens in life, we always have to have a smile. We have to stay positive, look ahead and try to win football games and try to enjoy the situation and win the game.
“We have to stick together, and we have to spread the love to each other.
“So yeah, stick together, enjoy the ride and smile.”
Anfield has long been one of the most intimidating venues in English football, and City's visit comes at a particularly charged moment, with the verdict likely to dominate the atmosphere around the game.
City's players, though, have so far shown little sign of allowing the uncertainty away from the pitch to affect their football.
They have won all five of their league matches and sit three points clear of defending champions Arsenal, with Maresca's side having made an emphatic early statement of intent.
Liverpool, by contrast, have endured a less convincing opening to their title defence. They have won twice and drawn three times in their first five matches and sit sixth heading into Sunday's fixture.
A victory would provide Andoni Iraola's side with a significant lift and, more importantly, halt City's perfect start.
But the result will inevitably be viewed through the prism of the financial case.
Every City appearance now brings questions about what consequences could eventually follow the verdict. The appeal process remains ongoing and sanctions have yet to be determined.
For now, City must attempt to separate that uncertainty from their pursuit of another title.
Anfield represents perhaps the most difficult environment in which to do so.
The rivalry between the clubs has been one of the defining contests of the past 10 years, with City and Liverpool repeatedly battling for supremacy at the top of the table.
