Robbie Fowler insists that Sunday's huge showdown between Liverpool and Manchester City will not be a title decider, regardless of the result.
Man City host Liverpool at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon with both sides locked in a dramatic title fight. Pep Guardiola's reigning champions City sit top on 73 points, with Jurgen Klopp's Reds just a point behind with eight games of the season remaining. Liverpool have reeled in City in recent weeks to make the meeting in Manchester something a title decider in some fans' eyes, especially given the rivals' dominance of the League in recent years.
City could go four points clear with a victory, while an away win would send Liverpool two points ahead after 11 victories on the spin. However, Anfield legend Fowler believes that there is still plenty left to play for in the title race regardless of the outcome on Sunday, and says the game should be decided by which manager gets their pressing tactics correct.
Writing in his weekly Mirror Football column, Fowler said: "I don’t think this will be a title decider, certainly not if Liverpool win, and even if City win, it’s not all over. I do think it will be decided by the finest of margins, as games of this magnitude invariably are.
"If Liverpool are going to emerge victorious, then they have to find the energy, intensity and passion of their very best performances under Klopp - which they’ve done a couple of times at the Etihad against Pep’s team already. City must impose their passing game on Liverpool, and keep the ball better in the face of Klopp’s ferocious press, than they’ve done at times in the past.
"They will also want to target again, as they’ve done many times before, the fact that Trent Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool’s most penetrating creative influence with his attacking instincts. To do that, they have to win possession when he is bombing forward and hit the Reds' defence swiftly and incisively. Whichever team best manages their press resistance and ball-winning should win.
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"In the end, it will probably come down to one moment of genius from one of the incredible players on show. And I hope that happens too, because a game of this size deserves that kind of finale."
If Liverpool are to win at the Etihad, they will likely need Mohamed Salah to rediscover his scoring touch - and Fowler has backed the Egyptian star to handle the pressure on Sunday.
"I’ve watched Salah close up since he arrived at Liverpool (and watched him beat almost all of my records, one by one). The thing I see above all else, is a profound belief, and a profound optimism," he said.
"You know that rubbish about him being selfish? That’s just belief. And quality as a striker, because the better you are, the more optimistic you become. Salah won’t be worried about the City game, he won’t be hiding. He’ll be desperate to play, because honestly, he’s sitting there on Sunday morning as you read this, thinking today is going to be his day, his spectacular day."
