Liverpool 0, Man City 0: The title hunters neutralize each other

The goals are guaranteed, they said. These are the two most offensive teams in the Premier League, they said. It will never be 0-0, they said. Liverpool and Manchester City had not drawn 0-0 since 1986, they said. It was 0-0.

Thus, after an unexpected stalemate, City and Liverpool are tied for points at the top of the standings, Chelsea catching up after their victory in Southampton. City, probably, is a little closer to the goal of keeping the Premier League title for the first time, but the small step he has taken could have been important if Riyad Mahrez had not missed a penalty in the 86th minute and lost the opportunity to give his side to his team. first win at Anfield since 2003.

City had already shouted two shots on goal – one when Sergio Aguero appeared to be bundled up by Dejan Lovren and the other when Croatia surprised Gabriel Jesus with an annoying arm – when Virgil van Dijk unleashed Leroy Sane. Aguero is the usual City penalty taker, but he was replaced, which led to a field discussion about who would take him. Although he missed four of his last seven Premier League penalties, Mahrez ignored Gabriel Jesus' claim, but kicked a high kick over the bar.

This incident provoked a late drama, but after the thrill of four games last season, it was a bit of an anti-climax. The two managers opted for slightly conservative variants of their usual style. For Liverpool, Lovren returned with Joe Gomez returning to the place of the most adventurous Trent Alexander-Armstrong.

City, meanwhile, fits, the usual 4-3-3 turning into 4-4-2 with David Silva running as second striker behind Sergio Aguero. The logic was similar to the one that motivated the use of Ilkay Gundogan in a right-wing role in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final last season, but this time the expected result was preserved. . control element.

Right-back Kyle Walker, meanwhile, was much more moderate than usual, almost acting as the third central defender when Benjamin Mendy pushed ahead on the left. Liverpool have never been able to create the momentum they had in their three games against City last season.

It's hard to say how much City was doing as well as Liverpool. The top six Liverpool players had both played in Wednesday's defeat at Naples and a draw at Chelsea last Saturday. They may have been a little tired after three such tough games in a week. The 12 days leading up to the international break were highlighted as a key period for the Liverpool season and have not won any of the four games this season, frustrating the frustrating end of Jurgen Klopp's third year as that manager at Anfield.

The Liverpool group have not yet regained form in February and March this season with the big players, Mohammed Salah in particular, softened by the more defensive approach adopted by the side defenders. More fundamentally, the Egyptian lost the hand in front of the goal. Until then at about the same time last year, he had always been criticized for the fact that his finishes did not match his excellence in other areas, and he seems to have returned to that impression of him: 29 shots in the league gave only three goals.

There was a quick rise in Liverpool, and for seven or eight minutes early in the match, City struggled to cope with the ferocity of the Liverpool press, but once this storm had passed, City was relatively at home. # 39; ease. The few chances there were largely attributable to City. In addition to the penalty, Mahrez had the best two chances, trailing a streak away from the post far, then getting an intelligent backup from Alisson to his next post.

But for the most part, it's a game whose fascination lies in the way it defies expectations. Two leaders distinguished themselves by their cavalier attitude, adopting more pragmatic approaches and able to neutralize their adversaries and themselves.

In the end, Liverpool will probably have the impression of getting away with it, but in the long run the point is worth more for City.