MANCHESTER CITY versus Liverpool is a unique battle between two of the most expertly assembled squads in the Premier League, and between two managers who will go down as the greatest of this era.

The football played by Guardiola’s and Klopp’s sides have defined the two main schools of thought in the game currently.

From Guardiola’s possession and position game, influenced by Johan Cruyff, Marcelo Bielsa and Juanma Lillo, to Klopp’s intense counter-pressing style via Arrigo Sacchi and Wolfgang Frank, this is football at its zenith.

Running alongside this, there is a sense they are always learning from each other — that if they are to be successful they at least need to do a bit of what the other does.

“I try to imitate the best teams, and learn,” Guardiola said when the idea they played a bit like Liverpool was put to him after Sunday’s 2-2 draw.

This isn’t to say pressing isn’t naturally part of Guardiola’s system (he learned from Bielsa, after all) or that possession doesn’t play a part in Klopp’s game plan, but they are constantly working out ways to use these tactics within their existing system.

Their assistant managers help with this, bringing their own ideas to the table. 

One of Klopp’s assistants, Pepijn Lijnders, is himself influenced by Bielsa while there is also a bit of Guardiola about his football philosophy. 

And the aforementioned Lillo is more than just a mentor for Guardiola as he is now one of his assistant coaches at City.

Lillo freshened things up after Mikel Arteta left to manage Arsenal, and the Spaniard certainly won’t be afraid to suggest new things or point out flaws, which is something Guardiola will have wanted.

As the table suggests, these are the two dominant teams in the league. They are arguably the two best teams in world football at this moment in time. 

There is an 11-point gap between Liverpool in second and Chelsea in third, while the Reds remain just a point behind City at the top of the table.

Their dominance against other teams makes the occasions on which they meet so intriguing. How will they fare when going toe-to-toe against a rival who is on a similar level? That these occasions are relatively rare adds to the spectacle.

Their respected game plans are tested as they are in no other game, so it’s interesting to see how they stand up.

The statistics website FBref.com reveals a lot about how different this game was for both teams in the context of the rest of the season.

City’s two games against Liverpool have been their lowest and third-lowest in terms of possession in the league this season with 51 per cent (away) and 55 per cent (home) of the ball (the other was Brighton away — 52 per cent).

It’s a similar story for Liverpool, and Sunday’s game in Manchester was the least they’ve seen of the ball all season (45 per cent).

When it comes to pressing, this game was up there with the most City have pressed all season (160 pressures) alongside their win at Chelsea (163 pressures).

As might be expected due to the lower percentage of possession they experienced, this was also Liverpool’s biggest pressing effort of the season with 240 pressures, far ahead of their second most — City at home with 203.

In both games against City this season, Liverpool have registered 104 pressures in the middle third of the pitch while Sunday’s game was also City’s highest total in this area.

We hardly need numbers to tell us about the intensity of the midfield battle in this game. The high defensive lines used by both teams mean much of this fixture can be played in one seemingly chaotic area in the middle of the park.

But beneath the chaos, the game plans remain. It’s a testament to the quality of both teams and their coaches that their systems stand up to such tests.

We’re lucky that we’ll get to see it again at Wembley on Saturday, but before then City and Liverpool face altogether different tests in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid and Benfica respectively.

If they manage to preserve some energy, Saturday could be another frantic match between the two best teams in the world.