Man City 2-2 Liverpool
By Adam Millington
at the City of Manchester Stadium

The Premier League’s top two played out a pulsating draw as Liverpool battled from being behind twice to draw 2-2 with Manchester City on Sunday.

The result keeps the Blues at the top of the table and keeps their cushion over the Reds at one point.

“Today we played very well,” Kevin de Bruyne said. “I think we had the upper hand. This is the way we need to play the rest of the season.

“I know people said whoever wins gets the title. But it's too hard, the schedule is too tough for both teams to win every game, but we will try.”

This match was always meant to have a special electric current running through it. On paper, every football game is the same – but few would argue that this is the same as ever.

It is the circumstances which truly dictant the importance of a match, and this game had all of the right ones. With Liverpool sitting second and only one point behind City, this was their chance to gain the advantage in the title race. City at least had the knowledge that they only needed a draw to stay on top to reassure them, but this isn’t a team that will play for a draw.

When there is so much hype surrounding a game, it’s usually the case that the match falls woefully short of what had been predicted. But that wasn’t the case on Sunday, it just never really could have been with these two teams.

A few minutes in and Sterling had already forced an excellent late save from Allison. It only took five for the first goal to be scored when Kevin de Bruyne’s outside-the-box shot bounced off Joel Matip, with his deflection directing it onto the post and ultimately into the goal.

With the first act completed, the curtain had been raised and the scene set. This was to be football at its peak, a sequence of dramatic events played out by two of the world’s top teams.

At times there seemed to be little real tactical nous for either side. The characteristic Pep Guardiola build-up play was noticeably lacking, but in its place arrived all-out mania. 

Liverpool were soon back level, Diogo Jota tapping in Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cutback from close-range. Ederson should probably have done better and completed a relatively easy save, but he was the personification of this game. He’s not exactly a calm presence usually, but he was at his most frenzied on Sunday.

Perhaps the best example was when, given the chance to simply clear the ball from his box, he did something different. Dragging it with his foot, he nearly brought it over his own goalline – and with the jaws of everybody in the Etihad simultaneously dropping – he stopped it and dragged the ball back to safety.

City were by far the better of the two teams in the first half with Liverpool rarely looking like they would leave their own area. Jota’s goal had been against the run of play and they didn’t come anywhere near to replicating that before the break.

The blues, on the other hand, capitalised on their dominance. Joao Cancelo whipped a ball along the goalmouth, Gabriel Jesus nodded in and Liverpool were nowhere to be seen. 

But this game was all about the drama, of course it was. This game was going to contain twists and turns and they arrived soon after half-time.

There may have been something special about Jurgen Klopp’s team talk or it may have been the opposite for City. Whatever it was, Sadio Mane was able to score within only 47 seconds of the game restarting. 

Klopp’s side seemed different from then onwards, taking the game to the hosts rather than sitting back and letting them attack. But it just wasn’t enough. When two teams are so closely matched it requires mistakes for either side to gain an advantage – it’s nearly impossible for them to be better than one another across ninety minutes.

There were no real mistakes in the second half: no defensive gaffes, no wayward passes. The ball ended up in the net once more when Raheem Sterling fired past Alisson, but he had only been able to run through on goal because he was offside. 

And so the game ended level, despite both sides trying their hardest. City probably came closest, but not close enough. As a result it’s worse for the visitors than it is the Blues, but it definitely wasn’t the ideal one for either team.

Liverpool are a point behind, but that’s a gap which they could still breach. All it would take is one slip-up from Guardiola’s side and the whole narrative could change.

“We'll have to wait and see,” Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said. “They don't drop many points, we know that. We have to concentrate on ourselves and win as many games as possible. If they slip up we have to be there right behind them. We'll keep going until the end."

Yet it probably won’t change. Apart from a game against West Ham for which they’ll be the favourites, there are no difficult games left for City. 

This is probably it. City have probably secured the Premier League title. Just don’t stick all your money on it – everybody knows that it’s never over in this league until the final whistle has been blown in the final game on the final day.