The contest between Manchester City and Liverpool was everything we expected it to be, two aggressive high pressing teams playing high tempo sumptuous football. The best two sides in the premiership did battle in an exhilarating game which could have gone either way but was probably won by the superior team on the night. Neither team emerges from the fixture showing weakness which further illustrates the outstanding level of competition we can look forward to until the end of the season.

Liverpool came up short on the evening but if anything, only further cemented their place, so close to the summit of English football. The defence limited City to a handful of chances exemplifying the growth since last seasons 5-0 demolition at the Etihad. Klopp’s side pressed high up the pitch and were penetrative and incisive in their attacking play, upon scoring the equaliser they looked the more likely victors only for a moment of magic from Leroy Sane to take the tie away from them. Left out of the starting line-up, questionably in some cases, were new signings Fabinho, Keita and Shaqiri with Gomez also missing and the quality of Sturridge and Lallana still journeying back to their best after injury. The options available to Klopp this season are worlds apart from that which secured 4th place and a Champions League runner up medal last season and the backing from the board must be commended.
Even in defeat there were a few contentious decisions which on another day could have resulted in a positive result for Liverpool. A questionable tackle from Vincent Kompany on another day could have resulted in City playing over an hour with 10 men while John Stones managed to clear the ball off the line with just 11mm of the ball not over the line when the game was still goalless. It is these tiny margins which can be the difference between champions and runners up. While they may have felt unlucky to be on the receiving end of these decisions on this occasion, they should have lost their unbeaten record back in October when City’s Riyad Mahrez blazed his penalty over the bar in injury time to leave the scores 0-0, while a Pickford blunder and clear penalty not given against Liverpool in injury time against Spurs both resulted in wins, they could of on another day failed to register.
Liverpool have everything that is required to become champions of England and were it not for possibly the best team ever to grace the Premier League in Manchester City challenging them, backed up by Tottenham’s best ever Premiership start, it is likely the league title would be sown up already such bas been the level of their performance. For a team not to have lost a game before the first week of January yet there be only 6 points between the top three clubs, demonstrates the level of consistency now required to become champions.
While nobody is questioning the quality of Liverpool’s squad and their capacity to finally register their inaugural Premier League trophy, it is of paramount importance that Liverpool return to winning ways next week against Brighton if they are to end the league title drought. Liverpool have operated with an air of invincibility this season which has now disappeared following their first defeat. Manchester City lost for the first time last season just a week later than Liverpool have this season. While the challengers were not as close as Liverpool find their opponents, and subsequently it could be argued that there was less pressure on City, it was their reaction to their first loss in winning 7 of their next 8 games which cemented them as champions. Klopp has improved the team’s mentality unquestionably this season, but following their first defeat the next month will be their toughest test and will go a long way to determining whether they have what it takes to wrestle the title away from City.


The last month will have been a chastening experience for Manchester City having lost 3 times in December, more times than in the entire season last year. Before these defeats City were mirroring their form from their record-breaking points tally last season and were huge favourites to be the champions. The victory against Liverpool will have reignited the confidence that was somewhat lacking during that period and a return to fitness of star man Kevin De Bruyne, key tactical enforcer Fernandinho and the leadership of club captain Vincent Kompany will stand them in good stead moving forward.
Many will speculate that City have now endured their rocky spell and key men have enjoyed a rest, albeit through injury following a tumultuous schedule since the beginning of last season in which most of their players had very little rest after reaching the latter stages of the World Cup. Pep Guardiola’s side illustrated their unmatchable quality by defeating Liverpool without both first-choice full backs and their star man Kevin De Bruyne while boasting a huge squad full of proven matchwinners. They proved last season that they have the quality to go on a run of straight victories that could secure them the title, they also have proven that they have the mentality to complete the job and win the Championship and enjoy a squad full of players that now boast multiple honours.

The fact that City have a squad full of players who have experienced a successful title race could be pivotal; In contrast Liverpool do not have a player in their starting XI who has won one of the five major leagues (other than Milner who was a fringe player at Manchester City in a title winning season). If the title race is competitive in the final stages of the season it would have to be considered that Manchester City will hold an advantage in knowing what it takes to win titles whereas Liverpool have perennially come up short, most recently in the Europa League Final 2016 and the Champions League Final 2018. In addition to this Liverpool have often drifted off the pace late in the season, albeit sometimes while placing higher importance on European competition, to such an extent that Klopp has failed to achieve above 4th place in a Premier League season yet.
While City hold an advantage in experience, Liverpool certainly hold an advantage over City, and also Spurs the next nearest challenger, in player fatigue and the number of games their players have played since the beginning of last season. Both Spurs and Manchester City had at least 10 players that reached the final week of the world cup and in doing so hadn’t returned to preseason training before the week on the season starting. In essence these teams had no preseason and have not had adequate rest, this would suggest a burn out in these players could be possible and performances may suffer. In contrast to this Liverpool had no first team players outside of the sparingly used Jordan Henderson that reached the later stages of the world cup and as a result had a full pre-season to work on shape and mistakes from the preceding season. All of their players have had a full preseason and this could count in the latter stages of the season.
The season is far from over and there is much football to be played but what is clear is that this years Premier League has the potential to be a mouth-watering contest which may be decided by the smallest of margins. Outside factors such as injuries to key players and progress in other competitions are sure to have a huge influence on proceedings especially while both squads are among the top 5 in world football. With the gap reduced to 4 points I would slightly favour a Manchester City side who have experienced title winning seasons and possess a narrowly more talented first eleven, however Liverpool have exceeded all expectations thus far and if they manage to keep Virgil Van Dijk fit, they could easily finally break their Premier League duck.