Matchday 28 of the 2023/2024 English Premier League Season had the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting in store for the world of English club football fans. With third-placed Arsenal leapfrogging title contenders led by Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola via their 2-1 triumph against Brentford moments earlier, both Reds and Cityzens could not afford to drop points in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City yesterday. Nevertheless, following the tight contest between the juggernauts of the English top-flight football, there was nothing that could separate the teams after 90 minutes plus added time, and the game would end with a 1-1 stalemate.
Let us now take a look at the five interesting aspects about 1-1 result in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting.
Five Crucial Discussion Points in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City Meeting
1. Is the 1-1 Stalemate a Fitting Farewell for the Pep-Klopp EPL Era?
The 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting played last night had both teams held each other to a 1-1 draw, thanks to an Alexis Mac Allister second-half penalty that cancelled out John Stones’ game opener in the initial 45 minutes. What is worth mentioning is that the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting is a farewell matchup in the league between Klopp and Guardiola, since the German manager will be leaving the Reds at the end of the 2023/2024 Season.
After his final EPL encounter in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting, Klopp said: “We would have loved to use one of the massive chances we created. Yes, we are lucky when Jérémy Doku hit the post but we played an exceptional football game. For us, besides the result, the most important information is that we are right there. We go the distance. For us it is probably a little bit like, how did we get through all that and that we are still there? It is crazy with all these games and the squad situation we have. Today I saw the best 53 minutes we had against Manchester City. It was exceptional how we played.”
Klopp’s counterpart from Spain Pep, had this to respond during the post-match conference of the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting: “We spoke at half-time that in this stadium, if you have to defend something, you have to play and play and play. We gave away the penalty and, sooner or later, with this stadium, you have 15 or 20 minutes and it looks like a tsunami coming for everybody who has the ball. It is not easy but we never stopped trying to play. They had their chances, we had our chances and at the end of the game it (Draw) is what happened.”
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— B/R Football (@brfootball) March 10, 2024
2. Mac Allister Showed Up in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City Meeting
The 25-year-old FIFA World Cup winner with Argentina has been known as a steal in the recent summer transfer market over his rather cheap price tag of £55 million for his transfer to Liverpool from fellow Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of the current campaign. The player, who also found the net versus Sparta Praha via a penalty a few days earlier, was given the opportunity to level things up from the spot following Ederson’s late challenge on Darwin Núñez off a poor back pass from Nathan Aké. The penalty taker Allister once again showed his calmness and composure, beating the goalkeeper from a similar but higher spot that he last scored a penalty from.
3. Van Dijk Pocketed Haaland in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City Meeting
Unlike Mac Allister who held his nerve against Guardiola’s team in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester meeting, a player who did not live up his expectation was striker sensation from Norway Erling Haaland. The 23-year-old forward, who netted a staggering seven goals in the past three games in all competitions for Manchester City, had a decent first half, especially the run performed against Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk that could have doubled the visiting City’s lead in the game, but his second-half showing was far from his usual standards, largely due to the Dutch centre-back van Dijk’s tight marking that prevented Haaland from having a productive evening.
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4. Both Teams Had Opportunities to Win in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City Meeting
The man who received huge attention towards the end of the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting, for both the right and wrong reasons, was none other than 21-year-old Belgian winger Jérémy Doku. Doku of course had the chance to win it for the Cityzens, when his 89th-minute shot went past the shot stopper but was denied by the post. On the other hand, the young attacker from Belgium almost gave the home team the last laugh in the contest following his challenge that seemed to have caught Mac Allister on the chest in the dangerous zone. The action was waved by referee Michael Oliver, and not even VAR opted to go against the match official’s decision in the end.
5. Aftermath of the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City Meeting: The Tightest EPL Title Race Ever
The 1-1 draw in the 196th Liverpool-Manchester City meeting and Mikel Artetas’s Arsenal‘s win on Saturday meant the top three teams in the English Premier League at the moment, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City only have a single point between themselves going into the final ten games of the 2023/2024 campaign.
If we take a look at their remaining schedules, the Gunners, Reds and Cityzens are still shouldering on European club football competition responsibilities with Klopp’s and Pep’s sides remaining in contention to win the FA Cup. In terms of their EPL arrangements, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City each have to face six teams from the top half of the table in the remainders of their league endeavours, and perhaps the team who can be benefited the most from such a schedule would be the Guardiola-managed team.
Which team do you think have the best chance in winning the eventual title in the 2023/2024 English top-flight football season? Let us at OtherLeague.com know your thoughts down in the comment section below as we will continue to offer the latest bits of information and news in the world of major sports!
