Brilliance all around and joy for Pep

THE game of the season has lived up to expectations. This spectacle showed why these are the two best teams in the Premier League. In every goal there was a moment of brilliance: the finishes of Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane, the cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool’s equaliser. But it was the performance of Fernandinho that stood out for me. The Man City midfielder was putting out fires all over the pitch — and that is so hard to do when you are up against Liverpool’s front three. City are so reliant on him. We saw when he wasn’t there how much they struggled. It was so important for Pep Guardiola to get him back in the frame for this game. He is their nightwatchman. I had thought that Liverpool had done an excellent job of stopping City getting the ball to their two Silvas early on with Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum going man-for-man in the midfield. It meant that City had to play the ball out wide more often, which is why the performances of wingers Raheem Sterling – and especially Sane – were so important. Sane was excellent. He was sharp, and competed for the ball for his team and rounded off the performance with his goal. Liverpool were protecting a proud unbeaten record and I always thought City would need a second goal. Jurgen Klopp knew he could not afford to lose this game. But he did. And this title race is now as close as the ball was to going over the line in the first half — the width of a bootlace.