Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says the friendly rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City is very unique in the history of the Premier League.
Referring back to his days winning leagues at Manchester United, Neville claims there was always an edge in their battles with rivals, which is noticeably absent from the current two title contenders:
“When we were going through this with Arsenal, Chelsea and Blackburn in the mid-90s it always felt like a fight and Roy Keane uses the word ‘war’ sometimes. This doesn’t feel like that even when they played against each other with that brilliant 2-2 draw and Liverpool did very well to come back in. There were hugs at the end. It’s a very respectful run-in. You cannot deny the excellence of both of these clubs.”
The “us against them” mentality that Sir Alex Ferguson instilled at United ultimately led to the club’s rivalries becoming fierce and bitter. It was a similar case for Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea.
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have VERY different approaches to those two managers. Both have huge admiration for the other in terms of how they manage their teams and, with both having won a lot of trophies during their times at their respective clubs, there isn’t any real need for things to get ugly.
Some may feel that a competitive edge is missing in the rivalry, but the fact that the two teams always run each other so close on the pitch with their standard of football makes up for it.
