The international break can be the worst part of the season for a lot of football fans, having to sit through nearly two weeks of not seeing your club in action. So, it seems fitting that the Premier League returns this weekend with one of the most hotly-contested matches on the footballing calendar, as if the powers that be wanted to reward us for sticking around.
Manchester City welcome Liverpool in a fixture that has grown to be one of the most significant modern-day rivalries in the Premier League era. It may not have the local edge, as in the Manchester and Merseyside derbies, nor the historical importance of when United lock horns with Liverpool, but the fierce competitiveness remains all the same.
Unlike most recent years, the game takes on slightly less consequence this time around, with Liverpool having a campaign to forget and languishing in sixth place as a result. Even for City, a club that has made winning trophies a part of its identity, the season hasn’t had the same spark as fans have come to expect, even if a third league title in a row is still within their grasp.
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Regardless of the context, the signs are there of the bitter rivalry remaining in place. City announced last week that Liverpool’s ticket allocation would be reduced by 20 per cent to 2,400 seats in a move agreed by Greater Manchester Police following escalations in tension between the two fanbases.
This game obviously still means something. City want to reassert their dominance against a wounded animal in the Reds, whilst Liverpool will want to remind everyone that their dip in form won’t see them gone from the upper echelons of English football for long.
It’s almost gone under the radar how good City’s form has been lately. Lopsided triumphs against Leipzig and Burnley were seen as par for the course, whilst the FA Cup quarter-final victory made it 10 games without defeat. A run that also saw victory against top-of-the-table Arsenal, which seems to have been forgotten, thanks to the Gunners' own resilience and consistency.
Liverpool, on the other hand, showed signs of improvement throughout February and March, capped off by the unexpected 7-0 thrashing of United. But the humbling against Real Madrid in the Champions League, along with the shock defeat away at Bournemouth, spoke of the Jekyll-and-Hyde nature of the Merseyside club.
The worry for City is that they face a Liverpool that has a tendency of showing up for these big games. In a mini-league of the current top-six, Liverpool actually sit atop the table, thanks to victories against City and Tottenham, and the double over Newcastle. The campaign started with Community Shield success against City, with the 3-1 victory hinting at a titanic title struggle that never materialised.
Having faced Liverpool so often – and beaten them to the post when it truly matters a lot of the time – City will know to be wary of a team that could be welcoming the likes of Luis Diaz back into the fold. But the head-to-head record should give them confidence, if they need any. Liverpool haven’t won at the Etihad in the league since 2015, though there has been a Champions League triumph since them.
The rivalry that has sparked between the two sides has been defined by the managers more than the players sometimes, with an everlasting respect settling between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Across 27 meetings, the German has the slight edge, with 12 wins to Guardiola’s ten, the sort of positive record that most managers could only dream of having against the Spanish mastermind.
And while there has usually been a friendliness between the pair, Klopp’s comments earlier this season about City’s spending habits received significant backlash and served to turn up the heat on the contest. Even so, it’s mainly never been a rivalry headlined by bust-ups on the touchline or arguments away from the pitch, with the intensity and skill of the football on show usually doing the talking.
It’ll be down to the likes of Erling Haaland, breaking records at an absurd rate, and Mohamed Salah, still having a quietly good campaign, to remind everyone watching that this is a game to be enjoyed. It’ll have fiery challenges and moments of brilliance and, although it may not define either side’s season this time around, willing the bragging rights will remain as sweet as ever.
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