Liverpool Vs Man City Roundup | What This Means For The Premier League Title Race

There is no doubt that Liverpool and Manchester City have a lot in common, including a fiery attacking power. Coaches at both ends have proved their resilience through the season, with the two teams currently a single point apart at the top of the Premier League’s standings.

Since the campaign’s start this year, City has led the charge going 12 league games unbeaten from November to January. Likewise, Liverpool ramped things up towards the business end of the season. Furthermore, Manchester City has fewer responsibilities chasing the EPL and Champions League trophies, while Liverpool is after a feat no English side has ever chalked—a quadruple.

With eights games separating both teams from the trophy, these similarities have made it hard to give a definite season conclusion. This article delves into both teams and their odds in the Premier League title race.

Goal Retention

Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah is currently the leading goal scorer of this year’s campaign. Likewise, Kevin de Bruyne has been prolific, behind numerous Manchester City goals.

While the league has been determined by an attacking play leading to many goals, pundits have every right to believe the final seven games leading to the title race will be dependent on goal retention. The team with the highest ability to stop goals rather than score them has been tipped to have a slightly higher advantage.

The two coaches are likely to prioritise defensive play by drawing back the Highline, affecting the playing pace. According to Sport Nation, this can mean a lot for fans and bettors anticipating goals in the upcoming matches. Changing the direction of your betting tactics to suit the forecasted style of play for these two teams can never be a miss.

This is evident in how both sides have returned to defensive consistency. Their most recent match ended in a 2-2 draw, which brings back many memories of how both teams have fared defensively over the past five years. For City, the lowest number of goals conceded in one season over the last five years is 23. In the 2017/18 EPL campaign, Manchester City won the ultimate prize clinching an all-time 100-point record that is yet to be broken. Guardiola’s men finished with a 19-point lead over second-place Manchester United.

The season after saw City’s defensive stability lessened, finishing the season with 35 goals conceded and losing the trophy to Liverpool, ending the latter’s 30-year trophy hunger. Liverpool has also had a fair share of defensive woes in recent years, especially with the long-term injury of Virgil Van Dijk. It hit Klopp’s side severely, leading to a third position with 42 goals conceded.

Manchester City and Liverpool also have the two lowest tallies in the league, with the former conceding 20 goals while the Merseysiders have conceded 22. Both teams have kept 18 league clean sheets in the season so far, which is another testament to their ramped-up defensive form in this campaign. All things being equal, defensive resilience can decide this campaign’s champions.

Match Schedule

Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016. Since then, he has won three league titles, one Fa cup, four league cups, and two community shields. He is touted as the team’s most successful manager, maintaining a stellar 70 percent win rate, 10 percent more than any of the club’s previous managers.

Safe to say, the Spaniard coach has won everything there is to win for City except the prestigious Champions League trophy. Last year, City came an inch closer to receiving their first Champions League trophy under Pep Guardiola but gave it away to Thomas Tuchel and his men after a painful 1-0 to Chelsea.

Experts believe City’s unfortunate event last year will get them to prioritise the Champions League over the premiership. Gary Neville thinks “how City does in the Champions League will impact their Premier Challenge”. He adds that “the Champions League is a big one for Pep Guardiola and his men after what happened last year.”

Striker Quality

Manchester City losing its all-time goal-scoring striker Sergio Kun Aguero was not supposed to be a big blow for Guardiola, as he had his eyes on a few solutions. But things took a sour turn when he missed out on his summer target Harry Kane, following Tottenham’s decision not to release the centre forward. That notwithstanding, Guardiola has weathered this storm by distributing the goal-scoring responsibility among multiple players. This season, the team’s top three scorers have been Kevin De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez, and Raheem Sterling, with 11, 11, and 10 goals, respectively.

The Guardian asked Guardiola for thoughts on his striker woes early in the season. He revealed, “we don’t have a player to score 25 goals for himself, so we have to do it as a team” which is exactly what the coach has done. In contrast, Liverpool’s side has scored 79 goals this season, seven more goals than City. The formers’ Mohammed Salah leads the goal-scoring list with 22 goals this season, with Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane in the top five.

Entering the final phase of the season, pundits like Gary Neville believe this disparity could have a huge effect in deciding the season’s winner. According to Sky Sports Gary Neville, Man City not having that prolific striker figure could hurt them at some point. Even though Pep and his men have shown signs of resilience against Klopp seasons ago, Gary believes ‘the momentum seems to be with Liverpool’ at this moment in time. But Pep Guardiola is more than eager to prove himself.

Generally, the premiership is City’s to lose. But considering Klopp’s impressive run this year, it’s hard to write them off. But you can consider these factors to make your call easier.