Premier League Round 13: A true classic of English football

Among the 10 traditional "feudal" matches of English football, Man City - Liverpool is a match worth waiting for purely professionally.

Guardiola respects Klopp more than anyone

Liverpool - Man United, Liverpool - Chelsea, Arsenal - Tottenham, Chelsea - Tottenham, Arsenal - Man United…

The above mentioned matches all have a special place in the history of English football for their tradition and drama. But in the past 5 years, Man City - Liverpool has become the match that surpasses all if only considering the technical factor.

It is a match between the two strongest teams in England in recent years. It is a match between two of the best coaches in the world. It is a match between two of the most famous football schools… And also a match always full of goals.

In the last 10 confrontations, Man City and Liverpool have scored 39 goals together. And 23 of them belong to Man City. They are also the better team with 4 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses.

In addition, Man City has always dominated Liverpool in terms of titles over the years. But that does not mean that people can underestimate Liverpool. Coach Pep Guardiola (Man City) has said over and over again over the years that Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool is Man City's number 1 rival.

Indeed, no coach in his career has made Pep lose more points than Klopp. Transfermarkt statistics show that coach Guardiola has lost 12 times out of 28 matches against Mr. Klopp, and only won an average of 1.36 points/match.

This number is much lower when compared to Pep's other rivals such as Jose Mourinho (Pep won 1.68 points/match), Pochettino (1.96), Wenger (1.93) or Tuchel (1.92).

Injury concerns

The opportunity for coach Klopp to improve his record against Guardiola is even greater when Man City has a series of personnel problems: De Bruyne, Stones have not recovered yet; Kovacic, Ake, Ederson are also injured. Except for Ederson, the remaining four names are definitely absent from this match.

But Liverpool's absence of Robertson leaves many concerns on the left wing. In addition, many South American players such as Nunez, Allister, Diaz have to race to recover their fitness after the late international match. Meanwhile, Man City have home advantage.

The drama is even more intense as Liverpool and Man City are in the top two positions on the table. And if they draw, both could drop to 3rd and 4th place, as Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa are hot on their heels.

A series of highly anticipated matches are packed into 90 minutes at the Etihad Stadium. On the coaching bench, it's Guardiola - Klopp.

On the pitch, experts are eager to see how a resurgent Van Dijk will guard Haaland. Or how an in-form Nunez will challenge Man City's expensive central defenders.

Compared to the last reunion, Liverpool has changed significantly when buying 4 midfielders last summer. If the trio Szoboszlai - Allister - Gravenberch all start tonight (very likely), Man City will have to face a completely new Liverpool midfield.

Szoboszlai is emerging as one of the best midfielders in the Premier League. Rodri - the best defensive midfielder in the world today - will be a test of Szoboszlai's class.

Battle for top 4

Newcastle vs Chelsea (taking place at 10pm on the same day) is also a match worth waiting for in this round. Both Chelsea and Newcastle are facing many problems in the early stages of the season and soon fell out of the top 4.

Chelsea are currently four points behind Newcastle. Despite being stuck in mid-table, Chelsea are slowly reviving as key players return. And they are playing extremely well in big matches.

Meanwhile, Newcastle are in a serious personnel crisis. Specifically, they will be without Barnes, Botman, Targett, Murphy, Burn, Wilson and Tonali for this match, while Almiron and Isak have just recovered.