Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot will lock horns for the second time this weekend as Manchester City hosts Liverpool in what could be a crucial game in the Premier League title race.
Unusually for a match between two sides that have wrestled for top-flight supremacy for a good chunk of the last decade, the result will matter a lot more to one team than the other, with the Reds knowing that anything other than a win will give Arsenal huge encouragement in the run-in.
For City, victory would of course be welcomed, but the team's primary goal for the remainder of the league season is to secure a top-four finish, and a defeat by Liverpool would not have too much of an impact on the chance of that happening.
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Liverpool has not won at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League since 2015 and goes into the game off the back of successive away draws, against Aston Villa and Everton. Despite that, City is the underdog for the match, and that has not often been the case for a home game since Guardiola's arrival nine years ago.
It is a testament to the season Liverpool is having that that is the case, and few would have predicted Slot to have the impact he has had, considering the magnitude of the managerial change that took place at Anfield last summer.
Jurgen Klopp provided Guardiola with the biggest challenges of his coaching career, and the Catalan said in 2023 that the legendary ex-Reds boss was his greatest rival: "Yep, by far [Klopp is my greatest rival] because we faced each other a thousand million times.
"Absolutely, he made me better, him and his teams, here and Dortmund, always been big rivals, good games for both, positive approach and always attractive. He made me a better manager through his teams, and of course the way the play is good with the transitions, the runs, they are a fantastic team, a top side, no doubt."
So, for Guardiola to refuse to comment on Friday when asked whether Liverpool's team is even better under Slot than it was under Klopp is a clear sign that he really recognizes just how well Slot is doing. "I'm not going to answer that question [about whether Liverpool is better now than it was under Klopp]," Guardiola said in a press conference. "I have much respect for Jurgen and I know you want to go but I will not play that game."
In a separate answer, he said: "The level of consistency is quite similar with Jurgen. They deserve to be up there with Arsenal fighting for the title. Big compliments and a top team in many aspects, otherwise it would not have lost just one game in the Premier League."
Time will tell if Slot's spell at Liverpool will be as fruitful as Klopp's, but the fact that there is even a comparison between the two managers' teams at this early stage in the Dutchman's tenure is a very encouraging sign.
