The clash of the Premier League’s best teams lives up to the hype

It took just five minutes for the most anticipated game of the Premier League season to burst into life.

That was when Kevin De Bruyne’s deflected shot from the edge of the area beat Alisson in the Liverpool goal to give Manchester City the early advantage over their title rivals on Sunday afternoon.

The Reds were soon level, however, when Diogo Jota equalised from close range after a Mohamed Salah cutback.

City’s dominance on proceedings would once again be reflected in the scoreline though when Gabriel Jesus’ inch-perfect run saw him deceive Trent Alexander-Arnold and lift beyond Alisson to make it 2-1 before half-time.

With City holding the higher ground in the league table victory at the Etihad could well have proved decisive in the race for the league title with just seven matches of the season now remaining.

But Jurgen Klopp’s men redoubled their efforts and responded straight after the restart with Sadio Mane making the most of Salah’s precise through ball to square things up once more.

Raheem Sterling thought he’d restored the lead before seeing his composed finish ruled out for offside by VAR before Riyad Mahrez twice thought he’d won it in the latter stages, first seeing a free-kick hit the woodwork and then lifting a great opening over the bar with virtually the last kick of the game.

Honours even then in a classic clash that more than lived up to the hype.

With a treble for City and an unprecedented quadruple in Liverpool’s case on the line, the case was reasonably made in the build-up for this meeting of England’s top two being the biggest Premier League game ever.

Modern football has an often exhausting tendency for hyperbole, so it was refreshing for the two best teams in Europe to serve up a thrilling contest.

They meet again in just six days in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. The neutral can only hope for more of the same.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor