Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United: 5 Talking points & Tactical Analysis

#1 Have United handed Liverpool the title on a platter?

Guardiola's 3rd successive Premier League title seems a distant dream

Before the Manchester Derby began, Manchester City were 14 points adrift of Liverpool, having played a game less. Thus, a victory would’ve reduced that arrears to 11 points with 22 fixtures left to play. However, the Sky Blues crumbled to another defeat as they remained 14 points off the perch.

In 2018-19, City dropped a total of 16 points as they surged ahead of the Reds to clinch the title. Incidentally though, the loss against United has consigned them to a maximum of 98 points this season, meaning that they’ve already given up as many points in 16 games as the whole of the last term.

More worryingly though, their rivals, Liverpool, have shown no signs of letting up and are churning out results even when they haven’t been playing well. Unsurprisingly, they’ve drawn only a couple of their matches whereas they’ve posted victories in the remaining contests.

Thus, at this juncture, it seems highly unlikely at City would be able to peg the Reds back. Firstly, the deficit seems too steep whereas the Sky Blues’ patchy form is also not strengthening their credentials. Secondly, they also have to contend with an ever-growing injury list, especially after the hamstring injury John Stones suffered on Saturday.

Back in the late 1980s, a fearless Scotsman arrived at Manchester United and promised to knock Liverpool off their perch. Sir Alex Ferguson succeeded marvellously and left behind a side that had defined the English top-flight.

Yet, since his departure, United have only intermittently featured in the title discussion. And, while they are nowhere close to winning it this time round too, they’ve ensured that their noisy neighbours are as far off the perch as possible.

However, that has come at the cost of laying the title on a platter for Liverpool. Rather ironically, the club that consigned the Reds to a barren spell stretching nearly three decades, might be the outfit helping the Merseysiders quench their Premier League thirst.