Sane sets up title race to savour

And then there were four. Four points between Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of a Premier League title race that was gifted new life at the start of a new year, with a victory last night that may one day look like the most significant of Pep Guardiola’s English career.

But consider the fine margins, the inch of the football which failed to cross the City goalline, with the game still scoreless after 17 minutes, and which proved a turning point for the night and, who knows, the destiny of the 2019 Premier League crown.

It was the moment when Sadio Mane struck the ball against the post, John Stones booted it, comedically, against his keeper and watched in agony as it trickled back towards his own net before the defender responded and hacked it clear.

Certain angles on the television replays suggested the ball had crossed the line but, as referee Anthony Taylor demonstrated as he tapped his wrist watch, the goalline technology said otherwise.

Sure enough, the graphic soon showed that a fraction of the ball — an inch, according to some estimates — had failed to cross the line and the 10-point lead Liverpool were plotting to steal from the Etihad edged a little further into the distance.

For those flat-earthists still decrying the introduction of VAR, here was a fine example of technology being used to ensure justice was done.

And City, buoyed by an Etihad crowd more vocal and engaged than any in recent memory, were in the mood to take advantage of that reprieve.

It helped that Dejan Lovren, only playing because of injury to Joe Gomez, was quickly exposed as the weak link in a Liverpool chain that had not been broken, or beaten, since the penultimate game of last season at Stamford Bridge — 242 days ago.

Booked for a poor foul on Sergio Aguero early, the Croatian was then badly exposed at the near-post as the Argentinian latched onto a Bernardo Silva cross and lashed a quite magnificent finish past Alisson for the opening goal.

The goal was the highlight of a first half which produced plenty of intrigue and entertainment without ever really living up to the hype that had accompanied the fixture since City’s surprise December collapse had presented the possibility of Liverpool opening up a double-digit lead last night.

In Premier League history, no team has ever held a lead as big as the seven points Jurgen Klopp possessed at the turn of the year and failed to end the season as champions.

And, if Guardiola wants to end that statistic, he had to mastermind Liverpool’s first defeat of the season here.

The Catalan rolled the dice. Kyle Walker, whose form fell off a cliff in December along with the team’s, was again left out, centre-half Aymeric Laporte moved to left-back, and old war horse Vincent Kompany was selected in the centre of defence for a rare start.

Guardiola’s reward for showing his faith in the injury-prone veteran was to see Kompany collect a yellow — when it should probably have been a red — after he launched himself at Mohamed Salah just after the half-hour.

Klopp, meanwhile, went a little more conservative, matching City’s 4-3-3 and packing his midfield with grafters — Henderson, Milner, Wijnaldum — a trio possessing tons of Premier League know-how but where would the creativity come from once the Reds went behind?

The tactical sub-plot was all the more intriguing given that Klopp has beaten Guardiola more times than any other manager in the world — seven times in their previous 15 meetings.

Indeed, City’s December collapse had even those usually quick to worship at the altar of Saint Pep second-guessing their idol. It was certainly worth remembering that only twice in his previous nine seasons in charge of Barcelona, Bayern and City had Guardiola found himself involved in anything resembling a tight title race — and both of those at the start of this decade.

Of course, it was also worth remembering that seven of those nine campaigns had also seen him end the season by winning the league in question, an indication that Guardiola knows how to get the job done, regardless of stats.

So it proved, although there were a few tactical twists and turns from two managers currently operating at the very peak of their industry.

Kopp threw on Fabinho,

adding drive and bite to his midfield, and Roberto Firmino’s equaliser followed seven minutes later.

Guardiola responded, Ilkay Gundogan brought on to replace an uncharacteristically ineffective David Silva. Again, a goal quickly followed — this time Leroy Sane’s winner seven minutes after the change.

There were late pyrotechnics from Guardiola, who had performed his trademark impression of a volcano on the verge of eruption all night, and a lecture from the referee for one tantrum thrown in the direction of the fourth official.

But while the contest may have failed to live up to the expected fireworks on the field, this was a result that may have gifted the Premier League and fans of any persuasion the greatest football gift possible for 2019: A close title contest between two of the greatest teams of the modern era.