5 Reasons why Pep triumphed over Klopp

#1 - Squad Depth

Zinchenko slotted in effortlessly in the place of the injured Benjamin Mendy

As illustrated in point number #5 in this article, Manchester City had an incredible 16 different goal scorers this season, with 8 players on 5+ goals! The same stats for Liverpool stand at 14 and 3 respectively, with the goalscoring burden heaped on their attacking trident of Mohammed Salah-Roberto Firmino-Sadio Mane.

In every part of the pitch, Pep Guardiola had world class replacements for every player. It is not an easy task to replace a World Cup winner, but Oleksandr Zinchenko slotted in effortlessly at left back when Benjamin Mendy got injured.

The fact that City's most talented player, Kevin de Bruyne being injured for large sections of the title race is the ultimate testament of Guardiola's squad's depth as the creative burden was borne by Bernardo Silva and David Silva. While Liverpool relied heavily on Virgil van Dijk for defensive steel, Guardiola had four top class center backs to call upon in Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte, Nicolas Otamendi and John Stones.

Another key injury absence of midfield lynchpin Fernandinho did not affect the Cityzens at all, with Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva splitting the central midfield burden amongst themselves. Manchester City's strength in depth and lack of pressure on any one player ultimately outshone Liverpool's over-reliance on players like Salah and Mane.