Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of Sunday afternoon at Anfield was how ordinary it all felt. Everybody came for something apocalyptic and what they got was a league game that felt like pretty much any other league game in which Liverpool beat a side who aren’t as good as them. For a time there was a thought that Liverpool might pay for failing to take advantage of their early domination, for missing decent chances. But Manchester City are no longer the almost supernatural force they once were; eventually they made two mistakes in quick succession, giving away first possession and then a penalty, and the game was Liverpool’s.
Even Pep Guardiola seems to have accepted it is over. After the – frankly uncomfortable – sight of him clawing at his own scalp on Tuesday as they tossed away a three-goal lead against Feyenoord, he responded to chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” by grinning and raising six fingers to denote the number of Premier League titles he has won. Unfortunately, it also denotes how many of their last seven games City have lost.
