1) Liverpool have gap to bridge with City
Over four seasons, there was a total of one Premier League point between them. This season there are 19 points between Manchester City and Liverpool. City still don’t have things their own way: Erling Haaland’s presence remains a double-edged sword. Without Haaland’s goals, Arsenal would be on a title victory lap while with the Norwegian – an injury doubt for Saturday’s match – City have never quite hit the fluency shown when they were duking it out with Liverpool over those years. By contrast Jürgen Klopp’s problems run rather deeper than implanting a guaranteed goal machine. Virgil van Dijk was criticised this week by the Dutch legends Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten for his leadership style. And even though Stefan Bajcetic is only 18, losing him for the season was a blow. Liverpool, though, retain significant danger, as Manchester United found out, and as Guardiola recognised after losing 1-0 at Anfield in October to a Mo Salah strike. John Brewin
