City capitalise on Reds loss
● Tense time for rivals Liverpool
As Manchester City fans left Goodison Park after a 2-0 victory over Everton on Wednesday that sent their team back to the top of the Premier League, they aimed their chants across adjacent Stanley Park to title rivals Liverpool.
The taunt of “Jurgen’s cracking up” directed at Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was perhaps a reference to the slightly tetchy television interviews the German had given after his team’s 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Monday.
Liverpool have not won the domestic league title for 29 years, a period that has included a lengthy spell of domination from their bitterest rivals Manchester United
It was, of course, banter of the kind football fans love to engage in but the belief that Liverpool are nervously feeling the pressure of the title race is growing widely.
Liverpool have not won the domestic league title for 29 years, a period that has includ- ed a lengthy spell of domination from their bitterest rivals Manchester United.
That run should have ended in 2014 when Brendan Rodgers’s team featuring Luis Suarez in attack found themselves five points clear with three games remaining.
But defeat at home by Chelsea and a 3-3 draw at Crystal Palace saw Manchester City, who won their last five games, grab the title on the final day.
It was an agonising and crushing end to the season and while Klopp has since transformed the team, taking them to the Champions League final last season, the memory remains for the supporters and some of the players.
Now with City above Liverpool for the first time since December 8, the pressure is firmly on Klopp’s team, who host Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday.
After successive draws – at home to Leicester and at West Ham – Liverpool sorely need to pick up three points.
They have not gone two home matches without a win since December 2017 and have only lost once to the Cherries – 4-3 in Bournemouth in 2016.
Klopp’s side have won the last three meetings by a total of 11 goals to none.
City get a chance to respond to whatever happens at Anfield when they face Chelsea on Sunday, a match their manager Pep Guardiola describes as an incredible test.
Third-placed Tottenham are only five points behind the leaders and coping well with the absence of captain Harry Kane, having won the last three league games without him.
Spurs host Leicester, without a win in their last five Premier League games, on Sunday.
They have gone 29 matches without a draw – a Premier League record.
The last top-flight team to have a longer run were Portsmouth between March 1928 and February 1929, with 38 matches.