Liverpool and Manchester City resume their quest for historic trophy hauls on Saturday at the start of a season-defining month for both Premier League title contenders.
City, chasing a treble, are one point clear at the top of the table, but Liverpool, with an unprecedented quadruple in their sights, are the form team after narrowing a 14-point gap between the sides in recent weeks.
Jurgen, Pep face off twice
Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola will face off twice this month, first in a potential title decider at the Etihad on April 10 before an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley the following week.
Watford’s visit to Anfield and City’s trip to Burnley should on paper be gentle openers to a week that includes Champions League quarter-final action for both sides.
Alcantara excited
“In the years that I have been involved in football, I never had a month so exciting like this with such important and exciting matches every three days,” said Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara, formerly a Champions League winner with Barcelona and Bayern Munich. “It will be amazing.”
However, Watford and Burnley are also desperately in need of points as they try to climb out of the relegation zone. Liverpool boss Klopp has a difficult balancing act after an emotionally exhausting week for many his stars involved in World Cup qualifying. Sadio Mane again got the better of Mohamed Salah as Senegal beat Egypt on penalties to qualify for Qatar 2022 after winning the Africa Cup of Nations final on spot-kicks just two months ago.
Contrasting fortunes
There were also contrasting fortunes for two of the German manager’s other players. Diogo Jota helped Portugal qualify but Luis Diaz’s Colombia missed out. An early kick-off gives Liverpool the chance to climb to the top of the table for the first time since October. But City will be confident of reclaiming top spot even if they are displaced for a few hours after a run of nine consecutive wins in all competitions against Burnley. Sean Dyche’s men may have one eye on Wednesday’s huge clash at home to Everton in the battle to beat the drop. Everton have a three-point advantage over the bottom three and the pressure is on to maintain their 68-year run in the top flight after their balance sheet took another big hit.
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