Liverpool vs Manchester City: Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola go head-to-head as we examine their key statistics

THEY may only be separated by a single point and one place in the Premier League table, but Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola have experienced differing fortunes so far this season.

After an eighth-place finish last term, Klopp has guided Liverpool to second as we approach the halfway point of his first full season in charge at Anfield.

City are just one place further back but, with his enormous reputation and the fact that the Citizens spent around £170million in the summer, many expected Guardiola’s side to be topping the pile at this stage of the campaign.

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And with City travelling to Merseyside on Saturday evening  for the 5.30 kick-off, two of the world’s most highly-rated coaches will go head to head for the first time at their new clubs, with both looking to close the gap on league-leaders Chelsea.

takes a look at the friendly rivalry between the two popular bosses.

History

This will not be the first time the men have faced off though as Klopp and Guardiola shared opposing dugouts on a regular basis while in charge of Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

In the eight meetings between Klopp’s BVB and Guardiola’s Bayern, both won four – although one of the German tactician’s victories came via a penalty shootout in the DFB Pokal semi final in 2015 after a 1-1 draw – the last meeting between the two coaches.

Guardiola won the title with Bayern in each of the two seasons in which he crossed paths with BVB under the tutelage of Klopp, and again retained the Bundesliga crown once the former Mainz boss was replaced by Thomas Tuchel for the start of last season.

Klopp’s Dortmund welcomed Guardiola to German football with a 4-2 thumping in the DFL Supercup – the German equivalent of the Community Shield – back in July 2013.

The first league meeting between the pair very much went in Guardiola’s favour, as Bayern beat Dortmund 3-0 at Signal Iduna Park. However, in April of the same season, Klopp exacted revenge as BVB came away from the Allianz Arena with a 3-0 win of their own.

Bayern went on to beat Dortmund in the DFB Pokal final that season, but Klopp was once again successful in the following season’s curtain raiser, before Guardiola’s men did the double over BVB in the league in 2014-15.

Style

Both coaches share an appreciation of the high press, and have been key figures in the popularisation of pressing-based tactical systems over the last few years.

Klopp’s famous gegenpressing method is geared towards ensuring that the opposition come under immediate pressure once they gain possession. The theory behind this is that, by applying intense and coordinated pressure on the opposing players as they look to build from the back, the ball can be won in high areas where a few quick passes can create a scoring chance.

Guardiola preaches a “possession is king” philosophy, but he has always instructed his players to press frantically for six seconds when they lose the ball, before falling back into their defensive shape if possession is not regained.

The Catalan tactician also demands that his players build attacking manoeuvres from the back with a sequence of at least 15 passes. Guardiola believes that by doing this, the opposition will be pulled out of their structure and openings will appear.

This Season

Under Klopp this season, Liverpool have earned plaudits from all quarters with their exhilarating attacking football, outscoring every other team in the Premier League with 45 goals from 18 games.

After finishing eighth last season, the Reds are benefitting from not having the distraction of European competition and are regarded as genuine title contenders.

Guardiola’s City were the early pace-setters this term, but defensive instability has cost them of late and they have slid back to third in the table, seven points behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.

The Citizens are likely to dip into the transfer market to improve their options at full-back in January, but they remain a potent attacking force and ruling them out of the title race at this early stage would be foolish.