After coming first and second last year, both earning a record number of points in the process, Manchester City and Liverpool's first Premier League clash of the 2019/20 season was always going to be a big deal. The context, however, has caused things to spiral out of control. Eleven games into the season and with Liverpool an astonishing five points ahead of their once-betters, there's already a feeling in the air that this could be a title decider even with a little over six months to go.

It would be easy to laugh off as standard hype if the energy, which began as social media banter and sports page bluster, hadn't transferred to the fans at Anfield and the players on the pitch. Besides the silence observed for Remembrance Day, the fans at The Kop were chanting and singing "You’ll Never Walk Alone" at the top of their lungs while waving scarves and flags, well aware their team needed all the support they could get for this titanic clash. The players felt it too as the minutes following kickoff looked like the ending of a Champions League knockout game.

It also showed just why this rivalry is so compelling. Manchester City under the aegis of Pep Guardiola is a micro-managed superstar gestalt. On a game by game basis, tactics shift and players phase in and out almost on a need to know basis. They boss the midfield, set a metronomic tempo and then send Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero in through any cracks in the armor. Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp on the other hand are all heart and all press; they go forward and only stop when they are forced backwards.

And so, from the off, City took the ball and pushed up the right, then up the left, then drew a foul. Sterling and Silva posed serious threats from either side as they tried to lock Liverpool in stasis. But all it took was a moment's confusion caused by a nothing handball claim on Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool to escape, pile drive up an almost entirely empty pitch and score. Sadio Mane crossed the ball low to Fabinho who volleyed it in from almost 30 yards.

If it wasn't for the crowd, upgraded from excited to frenzied, the next six minutes would have seemed like a mistake in the broadcast. City, again, press the left and right in the Liverpool end. Again, it's Sterling and Silva that look the most dangerous. Another free kick given from Alexander-Arnold – and again, the Reds break out into acres of space, the sky-blue jerseys of Kyle Walker and John Stones always a step behind as Andy Robertson finds the head of Mo Salah with a pixel perfect cross to make it 2-0.

Klopp was ecstatic, Pep was glum and there were still 78 minutes of allotted time remaining. Besides for a wonderful save from City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo on an equally wonderful attempt from Salah, the match calmed down. City dominated possession and made increasingly desperate attacks; Liverpool pressed whenever possible without taking unnecessary chances.

A lot has been made of the positive mindset Klopp has instilled in his players, but if a picture says 1,000 words, the second half told everything you need to know about why this mentality is so successful as it came against 45 minutes of stark failure from Manchester City, a team of atomized, technically proficient yet utterly passionless players.

Five minutes of Sterling, Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne each trying their own methods of getting the ball past 11 Liverpool players showed they had learned nothing and they were rightfully punished in the 51st minute by a counter in which Henderson sprinted roughly one-third of the pitch, past Ilkay Gundogan, beyond Angelino and then crossed it to Mane who had to flatten out to get it in the near post.

Down 2-0 at Anfield is a hard enough ask but City didn't even try to fight back and ended up 3-0. Ignoring the return goal scored in the 78th minute by Silva, in which a series of errors compounded to give Silva enough room to flaunt his individual skill in front of a mostly open net, City held possession and felt that was enough.

Liverpool are now eight points clear at the top of the table and beat their biggest foes in a manner that laid bare their mechanical heart. Maybe it isn't just talk, maybe the hype is real. It should be too early to say Liverpool side already has the Premier League wrapped up, but who' going to stop them now?