Manchester City and Liverpool played out an absolutely pulsating draw on Sunday, but it was all a bit too friendly for some.
The top two Premier League teams met at the Etihad on the weekend in what was billed as a potential title decider and walked away even after a heavyweight 2-2 draw. Some fans of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea seem to prefer their rivalries a bit more feisty though.
All that and more features in this week’s top football tweets.
1. ‘Our rivalry was better than your rivalry’
Before the top-of-the-table clash between Manchester City and Liverpool, pundit Jamie Carragher ruffled a few feathers by claiming this is the best rivalry we’ve ever witnessed in English football.
That comment inspired armies of Generation X and late-millennial football fans to log on to Twitter and tell everyone how much better the Sir Alex Ferguson v Arsene Wenger or Fergie v Jose Mourinho rivalries of the nineties and early noughties were. There were even some harking back to Bob Paisley v Brian Clough in the seventies.
One thing is for sure: Jurgen Klopp v Pep Guardiola certainly seems the friendliest rivalry we’ve ever witnessed in English football. Make of that what you will.
2. We hope that fast food isn’t for Kevin De Bruyne
On Sunday, Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne gave us all an insight into his match-day routine. We assume those takeaways are for the kids – it would be hard to imagine that Guardiola has sanctioned it as part of the player’s nutritional regime anyway.
3. Priorities
We hope this tweeter’s dad is doing okay and that results go his way!
4. Smash-and-grab win for Everton
Merseyside Police are investigating an alleged assault after Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to break a fan’s phone following Manchester United’s defeat against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
In the meantime, a whole new trope of memes have been born.
5. Son shines again
Antonio Conte has hit on a winning formula with Son Heung-min, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski.
Tottenham are scoring for fun at the moment. Son bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 win against Aston Villa on Saturday and has six goals in his last three games.
6. X-Gunners
Meanwhile, North London rivals Arsenal handed the advantage to Tottenham in the race for fourth spot when they lost at home to Brighton on Saturday. For Brighton, it was a rare occasion when they happened to be on the right side of an expected goals v actual goals disparity.
7. Game’s gone
In France, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe both scored hat-tricks as Paris St-Germain extended their lead at the top of Ligue 1, with a 6-1 win against Clermont.
Lionel Messi assisted three of those goals too. We will never get used to seeing him playing in the same team as Sergio Ramos though.
8. Lively
The Swedish season kicked off this month and it’s fair to say that it got off to a lively start for AIK Fotboll.
9. Room in the trophy cabinet
And finally, spare a thought for this unfortunate tweeter, who is suffering from extreme buyer’s remorse at the moment.
