How Changing Their Attacking Line Could Decide the Premier League Title for Manchester City or Liverpool

One point separated them last season, one point separated them in 2018-19. One has Joao Cancelo, one has Trent Alexander-Arnold. Both have the world’s two most influential managers of this generation. When it comes to Manchester City and Liverpool it is a tooth and nail, neck and neck fight for supremacy with minuscule margins of victory.

As the two prepare to commence battle once again with us as the beneficiaries, the similarities between the two super clubs are startling. Multi-faceted attacks that can hit you from every angle, full-backs as mesmeric, dizzying creators who re-defined the meaning of a ‘fullback’ but most importantly, being consistent, powerful winning machines with barely anything between them.

The interesting reason the jousts between Man City-Liverpool have been some of the most entertaining lies in another shared characteristic, they both have the intent to attack games, to attack titles, to be massively risk orientated. The games between them are entertaining fencing matches of ‘you attack, we attack’.

Liverpool’s offside trap is risky, relying on Alisson Becker to save the number of shots he does is risky, but not when the modus operandi is meant to be gutsy. Alisson is relied upon to do what he does because Liverpool know he is capable of doing so, it isn’t by accident. Not to say another season isn’t possible where the other capitulates, (Liverpool’s COVID injury season or Man City’s Aymeric Laporte injury season) but it’s likely to be a race to the photo finish.