Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes are back in their own hands after a game-changing Saturday at the top of the table.
The Reds beat Norwich City to reduce the gap behind Man City to six points, with Pep Guardiola’s side’s surprise late 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the evening kick-off ensuring they couldn’t immediately extend their advantage.
Jurgen Klopp’s men are back in action on Wednesday night as they host Leeds United in their game in hand, knowing victory will leave them trailing the reigning champions by just three points after 26 matches played.
The gap is admittedly likely to grow once again this weekend when Man City travel to Everton, with Liverpool not in Premier League action as they take on Chelsea in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Soon to boast another game in hand as a result, that will be played away at Arsenal on March 16.
But Harry Kane’s dramatic winner over City on Saturday has ultimately blown the title race wide open as the Reds look to narrow the gap once again against Leeds.
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With Liverpool set to travel to Man City on April 9 as things stand, the stage is poised to be set for a potential title showdown.
Admittedly there is a lot of football to be played before then from both Klopp and Guardiola’s sides which could change the landscape once again.
But with that trip to the Etihad to come, the Reds know if they win their remaining 13 league games they will in all likelihood be crowned champions.
Both sides know how decisive meetings between each other can be after City beat Liverpool to the title by a solitary point in 2018/19, with a goal-line clearance from John Stones at the Etihad ensuring Klopp’s side suffered their own loss of the season.
As such, the pressure is most definitely on when they lock horns in April.
But it could be even more tense than a one-game showdown, with both sides still going strong in the Champions League and FA Cup.
Having won their round-of-16 first legs against Inter Milan and Sporting Lisbon 2-0 and 5-0 respectively, both Liverpool and City arguably have one foot in the quarter-finals.
Should they be drawn against the other, as was the case at this stage in 2017/18, they will face each other three times in the space of a week with the quarter-final first legs scheduled for April 5 and 6 and the second legs for April 12 and 13 - either side of that Premier League clash at the Etihad.
Meanwhile, there remains the possibility of the two sides actually taking each other on four times in succession, should they progress in the FA Cup.
Both clubs are currently in the FA Cup fifth round, with Man City travelling to Peterborough United and Liverpool hosting Norwich City at the start of next month, with a place in the quarter-finals up for grabs.
Should they both win and then progress again, the FA Cup semi-finals are scheduled to take place on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 April, just days after the Champions League quarter-final second legs.
Admittedly currently a bigger ask than them facing each other in the Champions League quarter-finals, with them both having to win two ties to be faced with such a domestic cup possibility, Liverpool and Man City will both have designs on the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup this season regardless of who they are drawn again.
Currently viewed as the two best sides in Europe, the prospect of them standing in each other’s way for silverware both domestically and on the continent is mouthwatering.
And there even remains the small possibility of a 39th Premier League game to be required to split them to decide the title come May, should they finish level at the top of the table.
The Reds are no strangers to such a regularly-contested rivalry, having locked horns with Chelsea 24 times between 2004/05 and 2008/09 thanks to domestic cup and European exploits.
Yet despite winning the Champions League in 2005, Rafa Benitez’s men were rarely genuine title-contenders come the business end of the season, with Jurgen Klopp’s current side a different monster entirely.
Since 2018/19, when City narrowly beat Liverpool to the title but the Reds bounced back to lift the European Cup, supporters have been robbed of the opportunity to see the two great rivals fight for honours, with them each falling comfortably short of the other in the Premier League title-race in each of the last two campaigns.
But the stakes have now never been higher as Liverpool and Man City both look to finish this season on top come May.
