As the Premier League heads into the final month of 2024, the standings point to a season in which Man City’s recent dominance could finally be interrupted with Liverpool having opened up a surprisingly decisive lead after 12 matches played.

Jurgen Klopp’s departure at Anfield was widely expected to result in a period of transition at Liverpool, who rarely featured during summer discussions in the media concerning the title contenders.

But on the back of a league and cup double in Holland with Feyenoord last season, Arne Slot has had an remarkable start to his career in English football, winning 17 of his opening 19 matches as Liverpool boss.

Liverpool’s excellent start has coincided with a stuttering start for Arsenal and Man City, the two teams widely expected to battle for the title.

Arsenal’s progress under Mikel Arteta has been particularly notable during consecutive seasons in which they have finished as runners-up to Man City, with a club record number of wins in a season (28) set last year, having equalled the existing record (26) a year earlier.

But despite finishing just one point short of the points tally achieved in the club’s historic “Invincibles” season of 2003/4, and having also broken a club record for most goals scored in a 38 match season in each of the last two seasons, it still wasn’t enough to beat Man City to the trophy.

The efforts involved during that period will undoubtedly have taken a toll on the players and staff, and a drop off this season is neither unsurprising, nor unique to Arsenal, with Man City and Liverpool also suffering significant dips in overall form following back-to-back seasons performing at unprecedented levels.

With a nine point gap to current leaders Liverpool, the chances of Arsenal going one better than last season are fading fast, and the test for Arteta and his team will be to avoid falling further away so as to be well-placed should the teams above falter, or at least to show the kind of form and consistency that will have them back in the mix for next season.

Man City’s heavy home defeat to Spurs last week has also raised big questions over whether a team who won a record-breaking fourth title in a row are already out of contention to add another to Pep Guardiola’s bulging trophy haul.

On the back of an unprecedented run of four defeats in a row, the fact that Spurs won the match wasn’t the biggest of surprises, but the margin of victory – marking the heaviest home league defeat in Guardiola’s managerial career – was a huge shock.

More concerning than the outcome itself will be the manner in which Man City are conceding goalscoring chances so carelessly, which has resulted in 17 goals conceded in the space of a month, including a calamitous surrender of a three goal lead at home to Feyenoord in midweek.

With such a prolonged spell of poor form, a trip to face Liverpool at Anfield is, in theory at least, the least appealing fixture that City could ask for.

A defeat on Sunday would leave City 11 points adrift, and requiring a near-perfect run of results until May to even have a chance of clawing their way back into contention. And that is without considering a handful of other clubs, including Arsenal and a rejuvenated Chelsea, who look capable of posing a real threat to Man City this season.

But irrespective of how rosy Liverpool’s position is looking, it will be a very different picture if City can secure a win that would cut the gap between the teams to just 5 points and help restore some confidence to a team facing their most difficult period on the pitch in years.

Whichever way the result goes, it will leave the prospect of a thrilling battle at the top of the table involving several teams during the remainder of the season, with the only question being whether it is a battle for the title, or for the runners-up spot.