Manchester City Vs Liverpool Premier League Rivalry Is Best

Sparks flew as the final whistle blew on Manchester City versus Liverpool.

The always-animated Pep Guardiola clashed with the Reds’ expensive goalscorer Darwin Nunez.

“There are some apparently unpleasant words being exchanged,” said commentary legend Peter Drury on SkySports.

“Darwin Nunez was involved in a spiky exchange with Pep Guardiola. They needed separation. Pep Guardiola seeking to rationalize that conversation.”

It took the intervention of Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp and assistant Pep Lijnders to separate the pair and calm the situation.

In typical Guardiola manner, the Catalan played down the fracas. “Nothing happened. He is stronger than me. There is no problem,” he remarked somewhat cheekily post-game.

Asked whether this was the latest instalment in a long-running rivalry, his opposite number Klopp also sought to play things down.

“I am the wrong person to ask,” he added, “We’re not fierce rivals, we are just rivals. But I am not sure Darwin Nunez knows about any historical rivals.”

Perhaps both men have been warned not to stoke tensions between the two sides further. The intensity in recent years has spilled over into the downright horrible.

Manchester City has been forced to apologize for tragedy chanting about the Hillsborough disaster and Liverpool’s CEO contacted a teenager after its fans had injured her by throwing a pint glass filled with coins into City fans.

Whilst these regrettable incidents of bad behavior by supporters should not be ignored, it is worth appreciating one of the most evenly-matched sporting rivalries ever produced.

A quick comparison to the other Premier League-era rivalries proves the quality of the competition beyond doubt.

Arsenal and Manchester United: A two season affair

The closest rivalry to match the Manchester City vs Liverpool bitterness is that of Arsenal and Manchester United.

The Red Devils had been England’s dominant force until Arsene Wenger showed up in North London in the Autumn of 1996.

Widely credited with modernizing the approach to soccer, the Frenchman also produced the goods on the field, masterminding a league title in his first full season and coming within a point of the crown a year later. The Frenchman would go on to claim two further crowns including a remarkable undefeated campaign in 2003-04.

But it is the bitter rivalry with his nemesis at Old Trafford, Alex Ferguson, that Wenger is most remembered for.

Over four years, the pair’s teams occupied the top two positions in the table and for two seasons (1997/98 and 1998/99) they were only separated by a solitary point.

However, it would be inaccurate to compare those two title races to the three Manchester City vs Liverpool have contested that were decided on the final day.

Although the 1997/98 final table showed just a point between United and Arsenal, the reality is that the Gunners wrapped up the trophy long before. Three games before the season’s end it was secured with with a cruising win against Everton.

The side proceeded to lose two of its remaining games enabling United to close the gap, but that was mere window dressing to the actuality of events.

The following year was more dramatic. The teams matched each other blow for blow right up to the final day when United, a point better off, secured victory.

Other than that although it was often the two teams at the top of the league one was usually far superior to the other. They never came that close to each other again.

The game’s status as ‘the clash between the title contenders’ established between 1997 and 1999 outlived the competitiveness of the rivalry itself.

Following the dramatic 1999 final-day duel United won the title at a canter finishing 18 points ahead of Arsenal.

The next campaign was similarly comprehensive for the Red Devils.

Although it lost an early season game to the Gunners 0-1 at Old Trafford, remembered for an audacious Thierry Henry strike against Fabien Barthez, the Red Devils were 11 points clear by Christmas and eased to a third league title in a row.

Arsenal would bounce back the following season and go on to collect two of the following three titles, but, in both of those campaigns, United was off the pace.

Regardless of the actuality the narrative about the pair being the ‘Big Two’ was sticky.

So much so that few realize the two most famous incidents that define the rivalry occurred way after its peak.

Incidents over genuine rivalry

One of the most famous moments of Arsenal’s 2003/04 invincible campaign was when Ruud Van Nistelrooy clattered a last-minute penalty against the crossbar and was surrounded by gloating Arsenal players angry at his conduct earlier in the game.

The miss would prove to be a sliding doors moment which showed how close the Gunners record of no losses was to being broken.

But the truth was that United was nowhere near completing with the North London side and finished 15 points adrift that year.

By February 2005, when the next iconic dispute occurred, United was undergoing an ever more substantial dip and was well into a significant rebuild of the team which had won three titles back to back at the turn of the century.

Having finished third the season before, a position it would retain at the end of that campaign, the Red Devils had been replaced by Chelsea as Arsenal’s main rival.

But before the game cameras caught captains Roy Keane and Patrick Viera involved in a now legendary argument in the tunnel.

“We’ll see you out there,” the Irishman told the Arsenal captain, ignoring appeals from referee Graham Poll to stay calm.

A pulsating encounter followed with United coming out 4-2 winners. However, it is less well mentioned that the game had almost no bearing on that season’s title which was convincingly won by a Chelsea side 12 points clear of Arsenal.

Whilst these moments, or indeed the Barthez lob, make for great TV highlights packages the truth is there was only one campaign where the sides were evenly matched and went blow for blow to the final day.

City and Liverpool have had three campaigns decided in that manner. Not only that the levels they pushed each other to is unsurpassed, with three league-winning campaigns settled by close to 100 points.