So, think you can all take another seven games of this?
Nobody said it was going to be easy. Few, though, could have quite foreseen the challenge that greeted Liverpool during a tumultuous tussle at the Etihad Stadium.
But once the dust settles on another absorbing scrap with Manchester City, the two teams stand right where they started the day – City with their noses marginally in front, Liverpool a point behind.
It could easily have been rather different. While nobody in either camp was willing to regard this as a title decider, the reality was had the Reds lost, few would have expected City to fritter away a four-point lead.
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At half-time, though, avoiding complete capitulation was the only thought on Liverpool minds after a first period in which they were extremely fortunate to trail only 2-1, hanging on to their championship aspirations by their fingernails.
They had been second best everywhere, slow, sluggish, flustered and, save Diogo Jota’s opportunist strike, lacking much threat going forward. City were the polar opposite.
Jurgen Klopp was pointedly out early for the second half, sat alone with his thoughts in the dugout before his players emerged a few minutes later.
And while it’s pushing matters to call Liverpool’s transformation remarkable, it was sufficient for Sadio Mane to eke out a draw and stretch the Reds' unbeaten Premier League run to 12 games. Whatever was said during the half-time break had a clear effect.
City should have won. They had more possession, more shots, more corners. But titles aren’t won purely on skill and pure talent. And Liverpool’s resilience and ability to dig in during the second half deserves credit. They solved some tactical issues, of course, but the sheer heart they demonstrated underlines why they still have a real chance of a trophy clean sweep in mid-April.
It wasn’t always through fair means – certainly, rare are the occasions Klopp’s Liverpool accrue four bookings in a match – but they did what needed to be done to keep themselves in the title race, even if their destiny is now out of their grasp once more.
Liverpool, of course, had been in Portugal in midweek and perhaps that City didn’t have to travel in the Champions League contributed to their lively showing. We will know more when the reverse happens ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final between the teams.
Seven Premier League games to go. Buckle up, folks. It’s not over yet. And this could prove a massive result in the final analysis.
