A Liverpool win earlier in the day meant Manchester City needed to beat Burnley
The race for the Premier League title is well underway as Liverpool and Manchester City swapped places with Pep Guardiola’s side ending the day in first place.
Liverpool piled the pressure on City as Jurgen Klopp’s side beat Watford 2-0. Goals by Diogo Jota and a penalty converted by Fabinho had the Reds atop the standings before City kicked off against Burnely.
But it didn’t take long for Man City to pull ahead as Kevin de Bruyne scored only five minutes into the game, thus taking off any sort of pressure City could have been feeling. Twenty minutes later, Ilkay Gundogan doubled to put them up 2-0, which ended up being the final score.
However, Pep Guardiola left the game feeling a bit disappointed.
"“The pitch was so high and our rhythm was not easy but we controlled, we didn’t concede much corners or free-kicks when Burnley are a top-class team in those terms,” he said. “Unfortunately at the beginning of the second half, we had two or three clear chances to score the third and kill the difference and try to do more for goal difference against Liverpool.“Eight games left, 24 points. We spoke about that. We have to feel the pressure that every game we play if we lose we are not going to win, we will be out.”Source: Manchester Evening News"
Liverpool have a better goal differential than City and with only a point separating the two, in the case of a tie, it could potentially play a factor.
Both teams are feeling the pressure as the season is winding down. Up until a few months ago, it looked as if City was going to run away with the league. Liverpool has done well in never letting up and taking advantage of City’s slip-ups.
Guardiola mentioned the pressure and Klopp did so as well in his post match press conference.
"“It’s not about managing the situation or the pressure. People see the situation like pressure – I’m not sure I can change that,” Klopp said. “We create a basis which we can use but no one knows because opponents have their own targets and go for it. People thought Watford would be an easy game but we saw what happened. We cannot see situations like that.”Source: The Guardian"
For those who like the back-and-forth in terms of standings like the one we saw on this occasion, they soon may be out of luck.
Manchester City is set to host Liverpool next Sunday in what is certain to be an intense match with title race implications. There is the possibility, however, the match ends in a draw and it’s status quo. The first match at Anfield ended in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
But before these two sides meet, they have a pending fixture in the Champions League. Liverpool travel to Portugal to take on Benfica while Man City play Atletico Madrid at the Etihad.