Before Manchester City v Liverpool, six other key games in title races

27 March 1968Manchester City (without a league title since 1937) played away at Manchester United (without a league title since 1967) sitting two points behind both their local rivals and Leeds United. With only two points awarded for a win, they could not afford to lose, something that looked likely when George Best put the home side ahead inside 60 seconds. But City dominated thereafter, with Colin Bell, George Heslop and Francis Lee all scoring. The win inspired City to the title – though they were scooped two weeks later, when United became the first English team to win the European Cup. DH

14 April 1981Long before he became TalkSport’s bon viveur, Alan Brazil was a zippy striker for Bobby Robson’s Ipswich Town. On a Tuesday evening at Villa Park his goal set Ipswich on their way. Brazil’s strike, following a mistake from Villa defender Ken McNaught, was followed by Paul Mariner sending Eric Gates away to score the second. Gary Shaw scored Villa’s late consolation with five minutes to play and Ipswich had an advantage they celebrated raucously in the away dressing room. Defeats to Arsenal and Norwich in their next matches soon handed the reins back to Aston Villa, who became champions using just 14 players all season. JB

26 May 1989“The Liverpool players are down, absolutely abject. [John] Aldridge is down, [John] Barnes is down, [Kenny] Dalglish just stands there, [Steve] Nicol’s on his knees, [Steve] McMahon is on his knees.” Brian Moore, ITV’s peerless commentator, painted a picture of devastation in describing Liverpool’s reaction to Michael Thomas’s late goal at Anfield. That the game took place six weeks after the Hillsborough Disaster appears surreal now, a reminder of football’s relentless idiom that the game