Manchester City maintain Premier League edge after 'wild' draw with Liverpool

At the end of an extraordinary game, little had changed. Manchester City still lead Liverpool by a point. Teams that drew 2-2 in October repeated the scoreline in April.

Over four seasons, these most evenly matched of rivals took their respective tallies to 339 and 338 points respectively. In the broader picture, however, it is advantage City: as Liverpool’s sequence of successive wins was halted at 10, they were left looking for a favour. The equation is altered. If City win their remaining seven matches, there is nothing Liverpool can do to stop them from becoming champions.

But the immediate reaction to the breathless excitement was to marvel at it. “What a game,” exhaled Jurgen Klopp. “Wild. It was like a boxing fight; you put your arms down for a second and you get a massive knock.”

Each showed the power to hit back. For the first time since January, Liverpool dropped points. For the first since then, they conceded twice in a game. Yet they twice came from behind against City, which takes some doing.

Pep Guardiola’s men had the majority of chances and gave Liverpool a taste of their own medicine with their relentless pressing. The Merseysiders nevertheless salvaged a point, with Sadio Mane equalising on his 30th birthday, and illustrated why this had been the defining rivalry of the era. It was high speed, high drama and high quality. “It was good fun – I liked it,” grinned Klopp.

When he enveloped Kevin de Bruyne in a bear hug after the final whistle, it was a sign of mutual respect as well as of a sensational performance by the Belgian. Many another excelled, with Mohamed Salah having a terrific second half and Gabriel Jesus justifying his surprise selection, but De Bruyne again touched the heights.

Klopp’s