Liverpool Continue Their Dominant Run, Man City Playing Catch-Up

Round seven of English Premier League is behind us, and what a week it was. While there were no shocking results as the previous week when Manchester City crushed Watford, we did see quite a lot of goals scored throughout all ten fixtures. In fact, all but one fixture ended with at least two goals. That being said, one of the most important fixtures was the lowest scoring, seeing how Liverpool defeated Sheffield Utd 1:0, and with that continued their perfect 2019/20 run.

Liverpool record their seventh win of the season

Jurgen Klopp men continue their perfect start of the Premier League season with a deserved 1:0 win at Sheffield United, despite needing a “lucky” goal from Georginio Wijnaldum.

While huge underdogs in Saturday’s fixture, Sheffield Utd fought well against reigning UCL champions, who struggled to convert their chances into a goal and were even close to conceding a goal on several occasions. That being said, they got “lucky” so to speak in the 70th minute, when Georginio Wijnaldum scored his first goal of the season.

“It’s normal you have to work hard for the points,” said Klopp after the game. “You have to stay concentrated and do the right things. We did today. It was never a clicking day, it was an average day.

“We were deserved winners. If it’s 0-0 we cannot moan and would not. But if there’s one winner it should be us. We worked hard for it. Winning in days like this is extremely worthy. We scored a lucky goal, we know that. But the boys worked so hard for it.”

It’s hard to argue with what he said, meaning that Liverpool really deserved a win in South Yorkshire, however, we have to acknowledge the Reds were far from their best on that day. Sheffield United matched them in many aspects and should the home side have just a little more luck on their side, it would be easy to imagine them winning on that night. Nonetheless, that did not happen, instead, Liverpool booked what can be seen as one of the most crucial and at the same most fortunate wins of the season.

Manchester City flex their muscles on Everton

Man City enter round eight of EPL with a solid 5-1-1 record, yet they can’t be too happy with the fact they are trailing their biggest title rivals Liverpool by five points ahead of round eight. But things are looking up for the Sky Blues. Following a 2:2 draw against Tottenham and painful 3:2 defeat against Norwich, Guardiola’s men woke up and started performing up to par with the expectations. With a 8:0 win over Watford in round six and 3:1 win over Everton this week, Manchester City made it clear they are going to push Liverpool to their limits once more and wait for the day the Reds slip and fall from the throne. At this point, it’s only the question of which of the two will manage to keep up the tempo for longer and which will slip and fall. By the looks of the performances in the last two weeks, Man City are gaining traction, whereas Liverpool are slowly running out of steam. Will that remain to be the case in the upcoming weeks, remains to be seen.

That being said, Man City did not have an easy time clashing with Everton this weekend. The two teams finished first half tied at 1:1, with little to separate them. Pep Guardiola’s men did look far more dangerous, yet they failed to convert their chances. Nonetheless, that changed in 71st minute, when Mahrez curled home an exquisite free-kick, to restore Man City’s lead. Only 13 minutes later Sterling in his 200th appearance for the club sealed the deal with his sixth goal this season, helping his team to their fifth win of the season. All in all, it was a gripping encounter at Goodison Park, which could have easily ended in a draw. It’s safe to say Man City owe the win to their star goalkeeper Ederson who was on top of his game and played a huge part in the Sky Blue’s win on that night, seeing how he denied Mina’s dangerous shot which kept Man City in the lead.

While we talk about exciting fixtures and those which will help to shape the standings of EPL, we can’t go past Leicester’s impressive 5:0 win over Newcastle and the exciting 1:1 draw between Arsenal and Manchester United. Having won their fourth fixture of the season, Leicester are now sitting at the third spot in EPL with a 4-2-1 record to their name, meaning the Foxes are only two points behind City and seven points trailing behind Liverpool. As far as Man United v Arsenal fixture is concerned, the two EPL titans finished the match with a 1:1 draw, which is a result both sides can be happy with. That being said, the fixture did leave a slightly bitter taste in mouths of the Red Devils, seeing how they could have easily won the fixture, had they not been sloppy in the second half, when they, as a result, conceded a goal. Despite all the exciting results, not huge movements happened in the upper part of the standings.

Liverpool continue to lead the league with 21 points, Man City are close behind with 16, Leicester are at third with 14 and Arsenal sit tied with West Ham at fourth with 12. Tottenham, Chelsea, Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are tied with 11 points each, whereas Man United sit at 10th spot with underwhelming 2-3-2 record and nine points.

Looking ahead to what week eight has in store for us, there are two exciting fixtures on the menu. First in line will be a clash between league leaders Liverpool and third-placed Leicester, followed by a Manchester City vs Wolves clash a day after. The two fixtures will not only be exciting to watch but also prove to be two fixtures that could have huge consequences in terms of the title race between Man City and Liverpool.

Rafael West

Sports journalist, content writer and passionate football lover.