Treble winner names the Premier League rivalry bigger than Liverpool vs. Manchester City

The Premier League season is approaching the finish line and once again Manchester City and Liverpool are in the thick of the title race.

City have won five of the last six league titles, with Liverpool claiming the other one. And when one club claims the crown, the other are often in the runners-up position.

With this campaign being the last for Jurgen Klopp in charge of Liverpool, talk of the recent rivalry against Pep Guardiola's City will continue to grow as the sides battle it out for one last time.

But a treble winner from the 1990s disagrees with claims that the current Liverpool vs. Man City rivalry may be the best ever in the Premier League. Eight-time Premier League winner Gary Neville posits that his Manchester United side had fiercer rivalry with Arsenal in the 90s and 2000s.

Led by big personalities Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the Manchester United-Arsenal rivalry from that era measures up to the current duo in all ways, Neville said.

Speaking on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast, Neville explained why the current Liverpool-City rivalry doesn't add up in his mind.

“I think when you talk about rivalry, whichever way you talk about football, on the pitch, off the pitch, Jürgen Klopp, we’ve talked about him in gushing terms, because he’s amazing, one of the greatest managers of all time, I couldn’t speak any more highly about him," Neville said. 

"But it’s not been a rivalry, I know there was a season where [Liverpool] did the 100 points, and it’s been amazing, but Pep’s just swept up, really. For six years, he’s won the league five out of the six times, so he’s swept up really.

"I mean, I know there’s been the odd season that’s been really tight, and Liverpool have been unbelievably unlucky and I think what Jürgen Klopp’s done has probably been better than what Pep Guardiola has done because of his resources.

“But that rivalry [Arsenal-Manchester United] was more like three or four titles [for each side], and then the off the pitch stuff and then the ferocity with the managers. That was a proper rivalry.

"So, for me, when you say [Liverpool-City is] the greatest rivalry of any sense, I just think no.”

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