MICAH RICHARDS: City and Liverpool are Premier League all-time top two

As we enter the final third of the season, Manchester City hold a six-point lead over Liverpool. You might think I'm stating the obvious. But read on.

This is the fourth year City and Liverpool have gone head-to-head for the Premier League title.

In that time since the start of the 2018-19 season, Pep Guardiola's team have amassed 331 points. Liverpool, remarkably, have gathered 325 points.

Maybe it is because we are living through this rivalry we don't fully appreciate what we are seeing but I've had the feeling for some time that we're watching the greatest teams of the modern era and the numbers they are producing put it all into context.

During the same period, Chelsea and Manchester United — the teams closest to them — have taken 255 and 253 points respectively. Chelsea, the reigning European and world champions, are fantastic in one-off situations but they have struggled for consistency at times.

United, who City host on Sunday, have great players and are more than capable of winning the Manchester derby yet they have not looked like winning a title in recent times. City and Liverpool have raised the standards so much that only faultless football is good enough.

It made me think back to the other great rivalries in the Premier League. I was brought up on Arsenal and United going head to head in the late 1990s and the early part of this century.

Chelsea took over as the main threat to United in 2005 and went head to head with them for the next six years.

But let's start with the four years that followed Arsene Wenger's appointment. During the period from 1996 to 2000, we saw Arsenal do the Double in 1998 and Sir Alex Ferguson's Treble winners of 1999. United won 322 points during those four Premier League seasons;