Let’s face it – the Premier League is boring. Yes, it’s the best league, along with La Liga, has the best players and coaches and has some exciting games week in week out, but when we talk about the title race, it looks almost like Bundesliga, where Bayern is on his way to a tenth consecutive league title. The only difference is that in Germany, Bayern is a lone runner, while in Premier League in recent years there are two major players (Manchester City and Liverpool) and they always win by a big margin, which ‘kills’ any form of excitement in the title race.🧐📊— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 10, 2022 During the last 5 seasons, only one has been decided with five points or less between the champions and the second-placed, while in the other four seasons, the Premier League table looked like some Eastern Europe leagues, where one club dominates against all the others. In that 2018/19 season, Manchester City took the title with only one point against Liverpool. In 2016, Chelsea had 7 points more than Tottenham, in 2017, City finished with 19 points (!) ahead of United, in 2019, Liverpool had 18 points more than City and in 2020, the Citizens had 12 points more than the Red Devils in second place.#ManCity 5️⃣-0 Liverpool. @ManCity 17/18 😍 pic.twitter.com/5uZzQBu3em— City Report (@cityreport_) April 10, 2022 Manchester United – Arsenal and Manchester United – Liverpool used to be ‘England derbies’ in the nineties and beyond. But it has been a long time since the Red Devils and the Gunners were mentioned in any title race. Like it or not, Manchester City took United’s place in a derby with Liverpool and this season it’s finally interesting: there is only one point difference between the clubs ahead of today’s big duel. And with 8 games to go, this one becomes massive. And we have to thank Liverpool that it’s so exciting near the end.⏳ #MCILIV pic.twitter.com/H1N8UPPFME— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 9, 2022 The Reds had as many as 14 points less than current champions in January but produced a stunning 10-game winning run which brought them into this position – to leapfrog Guardola’s team in the table with a win at Etihad Stadium today. And coach Jurgen Klopp has a simple explanation.“I think what we did is normal. The 100% truth is if we wouldn’t have tried it, I would have been disappointed. If the gap is too big, the gap is too big. Then close it. We closed it to one point but that was not about us, we just won the games. But City didn’t win all their games, that made the gap smaller otherwise it would still be eight points. But they dropped points here and there so that’s the situation. That’s what I expected from us, that we really go for it from there and win the games. I don’t expect us to win all the games but to try it constantly in the way we did it” said the German to the reporters.Pre-derby plaudits: Klopp praises Pep, saying he’s the best in the worldKlopp – Guardiola is a rivalry that exists not only in the Premier League, but has been well documented in Bundesliga, where they coached Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. Facing off a total of 22 times, Klopp and Guardiola have each won on nine occasions, drawing the remaining four fixtures. And Klopp has no problem naming Guardiola the best coach because he wants to be the manager who will beat the best in the world. “Maybe after we both finish our careers, we might meet somewhere coincidentally and sit down for hours and hours and hours and just speak about the different things, what we thought before about this game and that game. It would be interesting, no doubt about that. In these moments, I really appreciate my job. All what I say about City, I mean. I really mean. They are great, Pep is the best coach in the world. No problem at all with that. I always wanted to be the coach of the team who can beat the best team in the world and I actually achieved that as well somehow” said the German.When we win, I’m a visionary. When I lose, I’m an idiotThe rivalry between the two managers is a good one, and a nice one too, not as ugly as Wenger – Ferguson or Mourinho – Benitez. The Spaniard and the German are always exchanging pleasantries and Guardiola also rates their rivalry as a good thing.“I will always remember the time here when I am retired and I will remember the biggest opponent was Liverpool. We played many times. Jose is an exceptional manager, and of course, I was his rival in Barcelona, but here it is more years. I have been here five years and played many times. All the time we were close. I faced Jurgen one year in Bayern Munich. Every season, except the year we made 100 points and they did 99 two seasons later, the rest it was tight. Always we control each other because they are good and hopefully, they think we are good too” said Pep.
