West Ham manager Manuel Pellegrini wants to help derail Liverpool’s title charge.
Pellegrini welcomes the Premier League leaders to the London Stadium on Monday, five years since he helped pip the Reds to the crown with Manchester City.
The Hammers head into the clash on the back of three successive defeats but could give City’s bid to topple the Reds a lift with a win on home soil.
He also beat the Anfield club to the 2016 League Cup in a penalty shoot-out.
A loss for Jurgen Klopp’s side in the capital would afford City the chance to leapfrog them into top spot with a win over Everton on Wednesday night.
The Chilean made way for Pep Guardiola at Etihad Stadium but is eyeing a victory which would help both West Ham and his former employers.
“If we win, I will be very happy for our club first,” said Pellegrini.
“We need a good performance against the leaders.
“After that, if we can give a hand to Manchester City, it’s not our problem.
“But of course I am a fan of Manchester City also.”
Liverpool currently hold a five-point lead over City but Pellegrini believes that fellow challengers Tottenham also cannot be discounted in the title run-in.
He added: “It’s more easy for the team that is involved in just two competitions compared to the team that is involved in four.
“Tottenham? You should never think that a team four or five points behind you are not involved in the title. Of course they are.
“City have to play the final of the League Cup which will suspend a game. If they make the semi-final of the FA Cup they must suspend another game.
“They have midweek with the Champions League. So it’s not easy to compete in all the competitions.
“I talked about this four years ago. The major problem was that we were involved in all the competitions. We won one League Cup in that moment.
“We then went out of the FA Cup in the quarter-final against Wigan. If we’d continued in that FA Cup, I don’t think we would have been able to play all the games.
“We didn’t have time to do it.”