The battle for Premier League’s top spot resumes this weekend as Liverpool and Manchester City prepare to face each other, while Chelsea and Manchester United hope to get back into the fray.
Under Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, City and Liverpool have become the dominant forces in English football, sharing the past four Premier League titles between them.
City, which has won three of those, delivered a warning shot to the pretenders to its crown with a hugely impressive 1-0 win at Chelsea last weekend.
But it is Liverpool that boasts the only unbeaten record after six games and finds itself a point clear of City, Chelsea and United, despite dropping two points at Brentford last week.
City ended its long wait for a win away to Liverpool in emphatic fashion with a 4-1 victory in February, but it has not won in front of a crowd at Anfield since 2003.
Fatigue could take its toll on Guardiola's men after a draining week. Three days after its statement win at Stamford Bridge, the City was beaten 2-0 by Paris Saint-Germain in the French capital.
Liverpool, by contrast, was able to ease off the gas long before the end of a 5-1 Champions League win over Porto.
However, the Reds will be without right back Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was left out of Gareth Southgate's England squad announced Thursday with a groin problem, as well as Thiago Alcantara.
"They are doing well but they won't have enough time for being back against City," said Klopp, according to Reuters.
"But we have a good team so we still have solutions and we have to use them and yeah, after the international break the boys will be back I think."
Elsewhere, Everton heads to Old Trafford level on points with Solskjaer's men after an impressive start to life under Rafael Benitez.
United needed all 95 minutes to edge past Villarreal in its midweek Champions League game, emerging as victors thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's dramatic stoppage-time winner.
The late intervention from the Portuguese superstar stopped the rot for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men after a run of three defeats in four games.
But in truth United was lackluster again, relying on goalkeeper David de Gea, who produced a string of vital saves.
The Toffees are more than capable of following the example set by West Ham and Aston Villa, which have both won against United in recent weeks.
Chelsea made a brilliant start to the season under Thomas Tuchel, picking up where it left off after beating Manchester City in the Champions League final in May.
City exacted a measure of revenge at Stamford Bridge last week and Chelsea slipped up again in the Champions League in midweek, losing 1-0 to Juventus.
But Tuchel's men appear to have a relatively straightforward task as they seek to return to winning ways against winless Southampton at home.
