Liverpool v City is no longer the Premier League’s big show

Great rivalries are always more about feel than about numbers. There have been only four Premier League seasons in which Manchester City and Liverpool finished first and second, yet for most of the decade under Pep Guardiola it felt as if English football was defined by his struggle with Jürgen Klopp.

Klopp has gone now and nobody would be surprised were Guardiola (and/or Arne Slot) to follow in the summer; the seasons of two teams routinely soaring past 90 points feel past, and both clubs are recrafting squads while the rivalry diminishes. Liverpool are out of the title race, and defeat at Anfield could in effect take City with them.

The issue with the Guardiola/Klopp revolution was perhaps that it was too successful. Once pressing and possession-based overloads became widely accepted, merely executing them efficiently was no longer enough. "Today...

England, Liverpool