How Man City and Liverpool compare to the last time they fought for the title

Manchester City’s clash with Liverpool on Sunday will go a long way to shaping the repeat of their unforgettable title fight three years ago.

Hosts City go into the game on 73 points, one ahead of Liverpool having played 30 games.

At the same stage in 2018-19, each team were a solitary point better off than they are this time around and here, the PA news agency looks at how their dominant season this time around compares.

Remarkably, both sides won all of their remaining eight games in 2019 as they finished on 98 and 97 points respectively, at the time the second- and third-highest Premier League totals.

Sunday’s meeting ensures that immaculate run-in cannot quite be replicated but City manager Pep Guardiola certainly saw the similarities after last Saturday’s win over Burnley.

“There are eight games left, 24 (points),” he said. “We have to feel the pressure. Every game, if we lose, we are not going to win (the title), simple as that.

“What we did in the past, when we won 14 games in a row, now we have to win eight otherwise we will not be champions.”

Having trailed by seven points at one stage that season, City won their final 14 games to edge out Jurgen Klopp’s Reds – who themselves finished with nine straight wins.

Liverpool are the team to have come from off the pace this season. They were briefly 14 points back after City’s win over Chelsea on January 15, but responded with victory over Brentford the following day and have won 10 in a row starting from that game.

That means should they win on Sunday and then fulfil Guardiola’s prophecy of not dropping a point the rest of the way, they would match the Premier League record of 18 straight wins.

The mark is shared by City and Liverpool in their respective title-winning