Man City blunt Liverpool FC attack with tested tactic to please Pep Guardiola

As the clock ticked on in the second half of one of the best games of football this season, you wouldn't have guessed that it was Liverpool that needed the three points to go to the top of the table. Jurgen Klopp's side have been finding a way to win over the last few months to close the gap, yet struggled to get anywhere near Ederson's goal as the game wore on.

That, ultimately, may end up being the difference between these two finely-matched sides come the end of the campaign. As of Monday, only Manchester City can say that the race to win the league is in their hands with seven games to go.

The City defence was not perfect and they will be particularly disappointed with the way in which they conceded the second goal, throwing away the first-half lead they had worked so hard for by conceding within a minute of the restart. For a brief period after, the visitors were on top.

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For the rest of the game though, it was striking how much City controlled events. Liverpool had a few moments but it was the Blues who dominated the final half-hour with Gabriel Jesus going close and Raheem Sterling's finish ruled out for a marginal offside.

That ability to keep quality opponents away from their goal has been a key factor in Guardiola rebuilding this City team over the past two seasons. After seeing his backline collapse in too many big games during the first few years of his reign, City's manager tweaked his side last season when Ruben Dias arrived to shore up the defence, and they have not looked back - the run to their first-ever Champions League final was built on clean sheets and defence has been the bedrock of their stay at the top of the