For all the protests from Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, this match was not settled by marginal refereeing decisionsIt is the hardest thing in any sport to make astonishingly difficult things look astonishingly simple. With 13 minutes gone at Anfield Liverpool produced a piece of play that seemed to stop the day, a perfect little miniature of bold, simple lines, carved across the pitch, like a Miro line drawing.It took six seconds, four touches and three diagonal movements for the ball to travel from right-back to left wing, back to inside-right, then back again into the left-hand corner of the net. The moment of ignition came from Trent Alexander‑Arnold, who looked up and played one of those lofted cross‑kicks, full-back...
Early-season tussle between title rivals will see Guardiola turning up the intensity and going the Full MidfielderIt is, of course, absurd to talk about title deciders in early November. As Liverpool and Manchester City prepare to meet at Anfield on Sunday afternoon there will be a familiar urge to garland the occasion with superheated froth, to lean across the lighted TV plinth and pronounce in stentorian tones on the biggest, the most bowel-frazzling, the Superest of all Super Sundays.We know the drill by now. The Premier League is at bottom an act of salesmanship. And, like any good salesman, it’s always closing, November title deciders and all. Related: Five key questions for Manchester City before facing Liverpool | Jamie Jackson...
Liverpool’s resilience faces biggest test, Vardy threatens to deepen Arsenal’s gloom and a welcome dilemma for NewcastleApparently there is a game going on in Liverpool on Sunday. Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Genk in midweek was very much a continuation of a theme – since mid-September they have also beaten Chelsea, Leicester, Tottenham and Aston Villa by the same scoreline, and they last won a league game by more than one goal at home to Newcastle on 14 September. In their last six league games they have a goal difference of only five, yet they have somehow converted that into a mathematically maximal 16 points. The day Liverpool beat Newcastle was also when Manchester City lost at Norwich, but since then...
Guardiola is about to face Jürgen Klopp in the league, a manager who has possibly outstripped the SpaniardDespite their draw against Atalanta at San Siro on Wednesday night, Manchester City top their Champions League group and need only one point from their two remaining fixtures to secure a place in the last 16. Perhaps this will be the year they finally win the one prize that has eluded them during their massively expensive modern overhaul. But as Pep Guardiola prepares for a meeting with the only English club that has come even close to rivalling the recent domestic achievements of his City side, he must be aware his repeated failures in Europe are starting to significantly dent his reputation. If...
Relations between Klopp and Guardiola and historical rivalries mean this fixture is a long way from the Battle of the BuffetCrunch time arrives in the Premier League at the weekend. It is only necessary to glance at the league table now or last season to see why games between Liverpool and Manchester City are important in terms of the title race. The managers have had a nibble at each other over diving and tactical fouling in the buildup and few attending Anfield on Sunday will doubt that one side or the other will end up champions, yet for a variety of reasons there seems a reluctance to accept this fixture as the biggest in English football.Perhaps the most obvious one...