Liverpool send signal of intent to Chelsea

LIVERPOOL: Liverpool's 1-0 win over Manchester City at Anfield on Saturday may not have been the classic high-scoring encounter many had expected but it certainly sent a clear signal about which team Premier League leaders Chelsea need to fear most.

City are now 10 points adrift of Antonio Conte's side and are hardly playing with the style or confidence of serious title challengers.

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Juergen Klopp's Liverpool, in contrast, are exuding confidence, energy and purpose and as the German himself noted, it is no mean achievement to be within six points of a team who have won 13 games in a row.

Saturday's game showed clearly why the Merseyside club are staying closest to Chelsea's coat-tails and why Pep Guardiola finds himself in the unusual position of being locked out of the top two after years of dominance with his previous clubs, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

As Guardiola himself noted, Klopp, who moved to Anfield in October 2015, has had time to shape his team and the Spaniard is just half-way through his first season.

Time will tell if the 'Pep Experiment' will deliver the leap in quality at the level that City's owners crave.

But for the moment, merely keeping pace with their domestic rivals seems to be a big enough challenge.

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