The advantage remains with Manchester City.
A second 2–2 draw of the season between City and Liverpool leaves Pep Guardiola’s side a point clear at the top of the Premier League table with seven games remaining. In that sense it was job done for City: It has resisted the immediate threat of losing the lead and will wrap up a fourth title in five years, if it wins from here on in. And yet, given how superior it had been in the first half, there must also be a sense of an opportunity missed.
One of the problems of the modern Premier League, and the gulf that exists between top and bottom, is that highlighting doubts can feel ridiculous. Liverpool has won 10 in a row; how can it be criticized? And yet there had, for some time, been a sense that its high line could be vulnerable and that in certain games (against West Ham and Inter Milan) it had gotten away with it. This is one of the paradoxes presented by the culture of superclubs: The high press that makes them so effective against lesser teams can also render them vulnerable against the elite.
