ClapThe Premier League continues to throw a parade of great games our way with each and every passing week and to cap off the start of the campaign before the international break, we’re going to see Liverpool host Manchester City at Anfield in what is probably the biggest game of the season so far.
It gives us a chance to weigh up the two leading title contenders and the two sides who have won the championship in the last couple of seasons. Sure, Chelsea are still going to have a say in how things pan out, but it’s already starting to feel like a bit of a three-horse race with Manchester United beginning to fall away.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola even recently spoke about the impact Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool have had on him as a manager.
“Jurgen Klopp’s teams helped me to be a better manager,” said Guardiola, whose side go into the game against Liverpool after a league win over Chelsea and Champions League group game defeat by Paris St-Germain.
“He put me at another level, to think about it, to prove myself, to be a better manager. That is the reason why I am still in this business.
“The last four years, all the time, we were both there. It’s the biggest compliment that both clubs were there.
“But in the Premier League there are not just one or two, there are many teams who can fight for the league.”
In response, Klopp echoed those claims when discussing the rivalry.
“Never sure I ever told Pep, but I like him,” Klopp said.
“From time to time I annoy him in a press conference which is not to say anything bad about him or Man City but when one of Man City‘s staff tells him ‘Klopp said that’, I can see he gets really angry. Sorry for that!
“I said it before, we think we know a lot about each other but we actually don’t.
“We meet each other for football games but two years ago, I think it was, we had a few situations where we went together for award [ceremonies] and our families met.
“And I can tell you if somebody has a family like Pep Guardiola, they must be a good person. That’s what’s important for me.
“And during the game, whatever he says and whatever I say, I want to win desperately and he wants to do that,”
Whichever way you swing in terms of which club you prefer or who you want to see get the upperhand, it’s safe to say this is the kind of match we all want to tune in and see on a Sunday afternoon.
It’s a showpiece between two of the very best and it’s hard not to be intrigued by what could go down.
This one result isn’t going to determine who wins the whole thing and we understand that, but it’s still an eye opener that should tell us a lot about where they’re both at.
