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Chris Wright, Toe Poke writer
As we hurtle headlong into the festive scheduling, the Premier League kicked off December with a cracker as leaders Liverpool laid out the Yuletide welcome mat for erstwhile title foes Manchester City on the first day of Advent. The marquee clash saw the top flight’s “big two” come to blows once again, with the result likely to significantly influence the title race in five months.
City and Liverpool have emerged as the twin superpowers of English football over the past eight seasons with the often volatile rivalry showing no signs of abating any time soon. What once was a battle of egos between managers Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp is now a battle of nous between the Spaniard and his new adversary in the opposing dugout, Arne Slot.
Of course, City’s modern era of Premier League dominance really began during the 2017-18 season while Klopp was firmly in situ at Anfield, with the German’s all-action Liverpool side quickly emerging as their most prominent challengers.
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, there have been 15 Premier League meetings between the two rival sides with City winning [5] games, Liverpool winning [3] games and [6] games ending as draws. City have scored [30] goals to Liverpool’s [18], with Pep Guardiola’s men also hitting [4] (or more) goals in a single game against their arch-foes on [four] separate occasions — a spectacular feat Liverpool have only managed to achieve once in that same time.
The time frame selected begins with the start of the 2017-18 season, at which point Liverpool had firmly established themselves as serious competition to City and as such, the running rivalry between the two sides really began to ramp up.
In the seven full seasons that have prevailed, City have won the Premier League title six times and Liverpool only once, when Klopp’s side managed to upset the established order during the COVID-hit campaign of 2019-20 to claim the championship behind closed doors.
Here we rank the past 15 league meetings between the two teams, assessing the games — and some of the ramifications thereof — while separating the good ones from the dud ones.
15. Liverpool 0-0 Manchester City (Oct. 7, 2018)
Despite being billed as a clash between the Premier League’s two most exciting attacking entities, this drab goalless stalemate at Anfield actually ranks among the most forgettable of the latter-day encounters between Liverpool and City.
In a nervy game that produced only four shots on target (two for each side) over 94 minutes, perhaps the only abiding “highlight” to speak of was the sight of City’s £60 million summer signing Riyad Mahrez walloping an 86th-minute penalty clear over the crossbar and thus squandering a late chance to smuggle all three points back to Manchester.
Guardiola faced criticism in the aftermath over his decision to select Mahrez as City’s designated penalty taker despite the Algerian winger’s less-than-impressive record from the spot. Sure enough, Mahrez’s ballooned effort at Anfield was the fifth penalty he’d failed to score in his past eight league attempts.
In the end, Klopp and Guardiola begrudgingly settled for a point and a result that saw both teams extend their respective unbeaten starts to the league season. It also saw the match day end in an unusual three-way standoff at the top of the table with Liverpool, City and Chelsea all neck and neck on 20 points after 8 games.
Of course, there was no way of knowing at the time, but Liverpool and City would continue to share exceptionally close proximity at the Premier League summit right up until the very end of the 2018-19 season.
14. Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool (Nov. 8, 2020)
With the first international break of the season looming, Man City were wallowing in unfamiliar midtable territory heading into this clash after picking up 11 points from six games and churning out an unusually high number of draws during the opening bouts of the campaign.
By way of contrast, Liverpool were third but could have gone top with a win at the Etihad despite being forced to limp along with a lengthening list of high-profile injury absentees. With games once again being played behind closed doors due to COVID restrictions, the inert atmosphere seemed to leech into the action with neither side producing much in the way of flair or flourish.
Instead, it was a penalty from Mohamed Salah that put Liverpool ahead in the 13th minute until Gabriel Jesus levelled on the half-hour mark with a smart turn and prodded finish. Kevin De Bruyne then wasted a gilded opportunity to win it for City when he drove a controversially awarded spot kick clean wide of Alisson‘s right-hand post — the first penalty to miss the target entirely in the Premier League since Mahrez’s disastrous attempt against the Reds two years previous.
Both sides carved out a smattering of decent chances before the final whistle but the image of the dejected, rain-sodden Belgian playmaker silently ruing his luck in the lashing Mancunian precipitation just about summed things up.
13. Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool (Nov. 25, 2023)
Kicking off the 2023-24 season as three-time defending champions, City once again quickly gravitated straight back to the top of the Premier League by the time they first faced Liverpool in late November.
A fairly mediocre 2022-23 campaign had seen the Reds sink to their lowest top-flight finish in any full season under Klopp (fifth), but a resurgent start to 2023-24 saw them lurking just one position (and one point) behind their foes having lost just once in their opening 12 games.
In truth, the game itself fell a long way short of classic status with City going ahead midway through the first half through Erling Haaland before an 80th-minute strike from Trent Alexander-Arnold rescued a relatively late point for the visitors with little else of fanfare to concern fans of either side.
Haaland’s opener was his 50th Premier League goal for City and also his first-ever goal against Liverpool, but other than statistical trivia, there really wasn’t much else to commit to memory on an attritional afternoon that ultimately saw the points shared at the Etihad.
12. Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City (Mar. 10, 2024)
With the Premier League title run-in looking like a three-horse race between Liverpool, City and Arsenal, the stakes were high when the two former sides convened at Anfield once again in early March. The Gunners were perched in top spot with 64 points after beating Brentford the previous day, with Liverpool just two points behind them in second and City another solitary point off the pace in third ahead of kickoff.
Amid a febrile atmosphere, the twin colossi produced a mildly entertaining display that saw City bundle themselves in front after 23 minutes through John Stones‘ near-post waft — a narrow lead that lasted until the 50th minute when a clumsy lunge from Ederson sent Darwin Núñez sprawling through the air and Alexis Mac Allister dispatched the ensuing penalty to equalise.
The Reds went on to pop off an incredible 19 shots over the course of the game, (12 of which came in the second half) but with only six finding the target, a winner never really looked to be on the cards despite both sides carving out chances before the final whistle.
The result saw both Liverpool and City maintain pressure on Arsenal with 10 games of the league campaign to play. Alas, the Reds then hit a rocky patch of form at the worst time and fell away to finish third by a significant distance while City were able to steamroll their way to the top spot with one game left to play.
As has become customary, they then sealed a record-breaking Premier League title with a straightforward 3-1 victory over West Ham United on the final day of the season, thus becoming the first English men’s club in history to win four consecutive top-tier titles.
11. Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City (Oct. 16, 2022)
Second in the table and in free-scoring form, City travelled to Anfield having cruised through their opening nine Premier League fixtures unbeaten. What’s more, Guardiola’s side had racked up an imposing combined tally of 10 goals in their two preceding games (a 6-3 victory over Manchester United in the derby, followed by a 4-0 thumping of Southampton).
On the other hand, Liverpool had gotten off to a faltering start to the league campaign having lost twice and drawn four of their first eight games. Indeed, the home side were winless in three by the time City came to town.
However, form quickly went out the proverbial window as Klopp’s side suddenly clicked into gear and found their groove against their arch-rivals despite having to play with a hastily cobbled-together back four (including the 36-year-old James Milner at right-back) due to injuries.
Regardless, the Reds did a fine job of containing City’s attack and muting their main goal threat in Haaland, who had already scored 15 league goals (and three hat tricks!) by the time he showed up at Anfield. Instead, the deciding goal was scored by Salah as the tense game entered its final throes — though, perhaps the most notable aspect of the strike was the assist, which was provided by none other than Alisson.
Remarkably, his long, powerful punt upfield against City saw the Brazilian goalkeeper log the third Premier League assist of his career, with the Liverpool goalkeeper setting up Salah on all three occasions to date.
10. Liverpool 1-4 Manchester City (Feb. 7, 2021)
A pair of calamitous errors from Alisson most definitely aided City’s cause as Guardiola’s side were finally able to vanquish the “Anfield curse” with a dominant display having previously failed to muster a win at Liverpool’s home since May 2003, when Kevin Keegan led his side to victory on the final day of the 2002-03 Premier League season.
City even missed a first-half penalty, but still managed to make relatively light work of Liverpool with all five goals coming in the second half. After blazing his spot kick over the bar, Ilkay Gündogan opened proceedings from close range but the Reds quickly pulled level through Salah.
However, things soon fell apart just 10 minutes later when Alisson’s composure utterly deserted him twice in the space of just three minutes to allow City to sweep into a 3-1 lead via a couple of back-to-back blunders from the beleaguered Brazilian goalkeeper. Phil Foden then rounded off the heavy rout late on with a solo strike from an acute angle to score City’s fourth goal from just five shots on target. It’s perhaps just as well that there were no home fans in the stadium to see it.
Despite embarking on an 82-day winning streak between Dec. 2020 to March 2021 during which they set a new English top-flight record for consecutive victories in all competitions (21), Guardiola’s side then proceeded to fall to four league defeats in the final 11 game weeks of the season.
Regardless, City still managed to win the 2020-21 Premier League title (their third in four years) at a canter, finishing 10 points ahead of second-placed Manchester United and 17 points ahead of Liverpool in third.
9. Manchester City 4-0 Liverpool (Jul. 2, 2020)
Unfortunately for City, the horse had very much already bolted when they subjected Liverpool to a four-goal rout in what was effectively a dead rubber played out in front of an empty Etihad at the tail end of the 2019-20 season.
The Reds were already revelling after being coronated as Premier League title winners the previous week, which was made official following City’s defeat to Chelsea. Thus a 4-0 thrashing in their first game as champions-elect proved to be little more than an inconsequential hiccup amidst an extended victory lap that played out over the closing weeks of the campaign.
After the season was temporarily suspended in March 2020 due to COVID restrictions, the Reds went on to lose two more league games after the top flight restart in June. The club’s first-ever Premier League title (and first English top-flight title since 1989-90) was then eventually clinched on June 25 without having to kick a ball after City’s aforementioned loss made it a mathematical certainty.
De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Foden and an unfortunate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain own goal populated the score sheet at the Etihad, but it mattered little in the end as Liverpool recovered to take 13 further points from their final six games to preserve their immaculate unbeaten home record and end the season on top of the Premier League with 99 points — a club record tally and the second highest in English top-flight history.
Weirdly, the COVID delay saw Liverpool become the team to win the Premier League at both the earliest juncture in terms of fixtures played (i.e. with seven games remaining) and also at the latest-ever date, being the only side on record to win the league in June.
8. Liverpool 0-0 Manchester City (Dec. 1, 2024)
Liverpool drew first blood in the opening heavyweight bout of the 2024-25 season, comfortably dispatching City and thus extending their lead at the top of the Premier League to nine points. What’s more, the Reds had also increased the gulf between themselves and their supposed title rivals to a considerable 11 points by close of play.
Manning the Anfield hot seat against City for the first time, Arne Slot got everything right and swiftly saw his energetic side dominate the first half. A close-range strike from Cody Gakpo was enough to nudge the Reds’ ahead while City’s attacking ranks found themselves limited to a handful of speculative scuffed efforts.
Winless in six prior to kick-off, Pep Guardiola endured yet another migraine-inducing afternoon as City struggled to maintain any semblance of a foothold while Liverpool continued their bombardment, carving out chance after chance.
Sure enough, Slot’s gung-ho side put the tie beyond doubt in the 78th minute when panic broke out among City’s skittish defensive line leading to goalkeeper Stefan Ortega poleaxing Luis Díaz in the box. Mohamed Salah duly stepped up to do the honours, tucking home from the penalty spot with panache to seal the deal.
History has shown that City are more than capable of fighting their way back from these kind of pre-Christmas rough patches, but Liverpool look to be well on song and it’s going to take a monumental resurgence to whittle away their 11-point buffer.
7. Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City (Nov. 10, 2019)
With both sides pegged as title contenders once again, Liverpool staked their claim in the first meeting of the 2019-20 season by running roughshod over City at Anfield in stunning style.
Guardiola’s side were struggling to maintain momentum in the early campaign having already suffered embarrassing defeats against Norwich City and Wolverhampton Wanderers. A torrent of goals from Fabinho, Salah and Sadio Mané saw them stumble once again as Klopp’s effervescent side seized their 11th win in 12 league games to go eight points clear at the top of the Premier League.
The Reds were desperately chasing their first Premier League title (and first top-flight league title since 1989-90) and this pivotal victory over their closest rivals both extended their phenomenal run of form and saw them take pole position in what was to become a title race both stymied and suspended by the COVID-19 pandemic.
6. Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool (Jan. 3, 2019)
Liverpool came hurtling into the game on a 20-match unbeaten run in the league, firmly entrenched at the top of the table and seven points clear of City in second place. Speaking before kickoff, Guardiola was sure to make clear that only a win would suffice for his side as they attempted to gnaw away at the gulf between themselves and the leaders.
The match itself was hardly a classic, but did produce several spikes of dramatic intrigue, including the visitors being denied a first-half goal by goal line technology when a scrambling clearance from Stones was adjudged to have prevented the ball from crossing the City line with just 1.12 cm to spare.
Sergio Agüero then put City ahead in the 40th minute before Liverpool hauled themselves level via a close-range diving header from Roberto Firmino. However, the parity lasted just 10 minutes until a breakaway goal and crisp finish from Leroy Sané saw the away side muscle to a precious victory, thus bringing the Reds’ hot streak to an end and narrowing the gap at the top to just four points.
The result turned out to be Liverpool’s only league defeat of 2018-19 (and the 2019 calendar year overall!) and yet they were still usurped by a resurgent City in the title race, who won their final 14 games on the bounce to finish on 98 points, just one point ahead of Klopp’s side who successfully went unbeaten at home all season and even matched their own club record of 30 wins in a league season, only to finish second.
Indeed, Liverpool’s incredible runners-up tally of 97 points was the third highest points total ever amassed in the entire history of English top-flight football at the time and remains the highest total of any second-place side. Utterly, utterly galling.
5. Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool (Apr. 1, 2023)
After being beaten by a single, goalkeeper-assisted goal at Anfield earlier in the season, City took their frustrations out of Liverpool as Guardiola’s defending champions continued in their unerring quest to usurp Premier League pacesetters Arsenal at the summit.
Another upset looked to be on the cards when Salah broke away to put the away side ahead inside 17 minutes, but it took City just 10 minutes to respond via an equaliser from Haaland’s deputy, Julián Álvarez. The Reds’ resolve was then systematically eroded as City piled on the goals courtesy of De Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan and the impressively industrious Jack Grealish.
Dropping points hither and thither while looking tired and uninspired at various junctures, Liverpool had spent the majority of the season bobbing around outside the top six, and City’s rampant four-goal salvo seemed to emphasise the growing chasm between two sides that had been ravenously competing at the very top of the table for the past few years.
Guardiola’s team spent the vast majority of the 2022-23 season in second place behind Arsenal, but a dominant 12-game winning streak spanning from the end of February to early May ultimately saw them muscle out the Gunners to defend the title by a five-point gulf come the close of play.
4. Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City (Oct. 3, 2021)
With all four goals coming beyond the 60th minute, Liverpool attacked with zeal throughout but twice allowed City to equalise in what proved to be a rollicking draw at a fervent (and full) Anfield.
Mané struck first before Foden restored parity with a low, angled finish soon thereafter. Salah then shunted the Reds ahead again with a terrific, fleet-footed solo effort that would later be named Premier League goal of the season.
The Egyptian forward received the ball in a tight space out on the right flank and proceeded to dart and dance his way past five defenders and into the City box where he rasped a powerful finish past Ederson from a narrow angle. Salah enjoyed a fine 2021-22 season and was also crowned Premier League Golden Boot winner (an award he shared with Tottenham Hotspur‘s Son Heung-Min) for the third time in his career after totting up 23 league goals.
Unfortunately, his heroics weren’t enough to totally stun City, who once again drew level in the 81st minute when De Bruyne wafted a deflected effort past a bamboozled Alisson to salvage a point for the visitors.
A win for either side would have seen them replace early league leaders Chelsea at the top, but the split points ensured that Thomas Tuchel’s outfit remained in the driving seat, at least for the time being.
3. Manchester City 2-2 Liverpool (Apr. 10, 2022)
Things were much more irritable and nervy when the two sides met later in the season, with City venturing into the game desperate to preserve their one-point lead over title rivals Liverpool at the top of the Premier League.
In much the same vein as the early-season tie between the pair, the goals were frantic as De Bruyne took just five minutes to nudge City ahead when a quick free kick led to the midfielder hammering in another deflected effort from 20-plus yards.
However, the home side’s brisk lead lasted less than 10 minutes until Diogo Jota popped up to steer home Salah’s far-post knockdown. Jesus clipped a craft, close-range finish in off the underside of Liverpool’s crossbar that saw City go in at the break with a 2-1 lead, but that was almost instantly eradicated after the restart when Mané equalised for the Reds inside the first minute of the second half.
The result meant that the 2021-22 Premier League title race would remain on a knife edge heading into the final seven fixtures of the campaign, with City perched precariously ahead of their closest rivals by the most slender of margins.
It took until May 7 for Liverpool to finally cede a shred of ground, with an underwhelming draw against Tottenham allowing City to widen the gap by a couple of points. However, now knowing they needed four points from their final two league fixtures to wrap up back-to-back titles, City slipped up by drawing against West Ham United in their penultimate game, meaning victory against Aston Villa in their last game of the league season became imperative.
As the drama reached a pitch, City looked to have let the title escape their clutches at the final hurdle when they fell two goals down against Villa, only to rally and score thrice in an inspired second-half comeback (fuelled by a vital brace from Gündogan) to spark jubilant scenes at the Etihad.
The 3-2 comeback also ensured that Guardiola’s side had once again fended off a strong, sustained title challenge from Klopp’s Liverpool by just one, solitary point — just as it had transpired in 2018-19.
2. Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool (Sep. 9, 2017)
#OnThisDay two years ago, @ManCity delivered a 5 performance against Liverpool pic.twitter.com/HXYBXbp0V2
— Premier League (@premierleague) September 9, 2019
The very first meeting of the era in question came at the Etihad early in the 2017-18 season, the year in which both City and Liverpool began to assert themselves as the new emerging superpowers in English top-flight football.
The gladiatorial battle commenced just four weeks into the campaign and saw heavy title favourites City inflict a humiliating drubbing on their so-called rivals — a resounding 5-0 win that comprised the joint-heaviest defeat of Klopp’s entire coaching career to date.
Already trailing when Mané was dismissed before the break for a high, flailing boot that left goalkeeper Ederson with lacerations and stud marks across his face, the 10-man Reds simply capitulated in the second half as City took full advantage to an emphatic end.
Guardiola’s City side unquestionably dominated the majority of the game, scored five goals against Liverpool for the first time in 80 years, and also provided themselves with the perfect kick-start to what would go on to become their formidable “Centurions” season — the formidable campaign in which they set records aplenty while hoovering up their third Premier League title with five games to spare.
However, they didn’t quite have everything their own way.
1. Liverpool 4-3 Manchester City (Jan. 14, 2018)
Anfield
14 January 2018
Liverpool Man CityLiverpool became the first team to beat Man City all season in this thrilling 4-3 encounter at Anfield https://t.co/9k3Ssd9LqL pic.twitter.com/TCRQtmdPTs
— Premier League (@premierleague) February 25, 2021
After suffering a risible five-goal humbling at the Etihad early in the season, Liverpool were able to at least earn themselves a consolatory sliver of revenge in the return fixture four months later by subjecting City to their first league defeat of the 2017-18 campaign.
A relatively docile start gave way to a pulsating second-half crescendo as Klopp’s side scored three times in eight minutes to gallop into a 4-1 lead, only to be forced to dig in their claws, ride out the siege and hold on for the monumental win as City rallied with two goals in the last five minutes.
The result saw the Reds extend their own personal unbeaten streak to 18 games in all competitions and also dented City’s dreams of sailing through the season without having a single glove laid on them.
However, while momentarily rocked, Guardiola’s side quickly recovered and went onto suffer just one further league defeat all season (in the Manchester derby in early April) as they finished as champions with an unprecedented 100 points, as well as new records for most goals scored (106), most consecutive wins (18), most wins overall (32), and the biggest points gulf between first and second (19) while Liverpool went onto finish in a distant fourth place.
