Premier League returns as Manchester City and Liverpool’s Premier League mount final title charge

With the final international break of the season over and only 9 games left in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are looking to defend their title, but Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are only a point behind

The starting gun is about to be fired on another sprint to the line between Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League. The final international break is over. The remaining games are right there in front of them. The starting gun is about to be fired on another sprint to the line between Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League.

Saturday marks the beginning of a six-week fight for the title between two teams that have dominated English soccer over the past five years and set a new bar when it comes to what’s required to win the league.

And here they are again, back as the top two and separated by just one point with nine matches to go — one of which sees them face each other in what could be the defining match of the season.

City, the defending champion, holds the lead — as it has done since the end of December — but an advantage that was as large as 14 points in mid-January, when Liverpool had games in hand, has shrunk to such an extent that Jurgen Klopp’s team might be some people’s favorites.

Liverpool has fewer losses — two — and is on a nine-match winning run in the league. Heading into April, Liverpool has already won the League Cup and is still alive in the FA Cup and the Champions League.

The unprecedented quadruple, amazingly, remains on.

“They are always there,” City manager Pep Guardiola said recently. “A pain ... all the time.”