Guardiola vs Klopp: The greatest rivalry?

“You are always looking in the rear-view mirror to see who is coming up behind you and when you see someone you accelerate. Arsenal were catching us up. And their team was good enough to go above us, there was no question about that.”

Sir Alex Ferguson was reflecting on what many regard as the seminal rivalry of the Premier League era. Arsene Wenger won the Premier League three times in his first eight seasons in English football. It was Ferguson's Manchester United that claimed the rest.

The 1999 treble-winning campaign came immediately after Wenger's first title. It was the emergence of that Arsenal team that made his Manchester United better.

Yet, throughout that period, there was never a season in which both sides hit the 80-point mark. In fact, United and Arsenal have only done that once in Premier League history - the year after Thierry Henry left when the Gunners finished third behind Chelsea.

The sort of sustained excellence now being served up by Manchester City and Liverpool is unprecedented. There is an argument that it is now the greatest Premier League rivalry.

Some will point to the greater wealth disparity that exists now but that is only a partial explanation - it does not account for the gulf they have opened up on other elite clubs.

Since the summer of 2018, the overall points totals for Manchester City and Liverpool stand at 338 and 337 respectively. The next team on that list is Chelsea - 73 points behind.

The gap was 25 points to third in the epic 2018/19 title race and 15 points when Liverpool won rather more comfortably in 2020/21. The lead to the rest is already 10 points this season and likely to widen as they go into the run-in knowing any slip will be costly.

As it stands, Liverpool are on