A clash of great rivals: the key battles that will decide Manchester City v Liverpool

No manager has beaten Pep Guardiola as often as Jürgen Klopp, although the balance is swinging the Manchester City manager’s way, with one defeat in nine meetings since the Champions League quarter-finals of April 2018. Theirs is one of the great rivalries, a meeting of two coaches who have done more than anybody else to shape the tactical landscape of modern football. But how might they set up on Sunday and where is the game between Liverpool and their Premier League title rivals likely to be won and lost?

Phil Foden was Manchester City’s key attacking presence in the 2-2 draw at Anfield as he found space on the City left again and again. He scored the first and it was his run and half-cleared cross that led to Kevin De Bruyne’s late equaliser. That, though, was against James Milner, who struggled to such an extent that he probably should have been sent off.

At the Etihad it could be different. For one thing, there is no guarantee Foden will play on the left. That he was on the bench against Atlético Madrid suggested one or both of two things. First, that Guardiola envisaged the game playing out pretty much as it did, with Atlético sitting deep and frustrating City: what a strength to have, then, to be able to weary them, dragging them this way and that, before deploying your most creative asset against tired legs with 20 minutes remaining. Sure enough, within 90 seconds Foden had identified and exploited a space to set up De Bruyne for the winner.

And second that he was being kept fresh for Liverpool; they are a better team than Atlético and there is a good argument that Sunday’s game will have a greater bearing on the destination of a trophy than Tuesday’s first leg of a Champions League quarter-final. Foden surely