Neither Klopp’s Liverpool nor Guardiola’s Man City are Premier League’s greatest

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Liverpool and Manchester City are still not up there yet with the greatest Premier League teams of all time.

They are both great teams and they meet in what should be a real humdinger of a match this weekend that will help decide the title. But when I hear people say these are two of the best teams we've ever seen in the Premier League, I'm not sure they are.

Arsenal's Invincibles team was one of the greats. So were Manchester United's Treble-winning side. And then there's Jose Mourinho's Chelsea. It's too soon to put either of these teams in that class just yet in my opinion.

Take Liverpool. Virgil Van Dijk is a great player. But I'd love to see him defend against Thierry Henry in his pomp, with Dennis Bergkamp dropping off. I'm not sure he'd be able to! Could Jordan Henderson and Fabinho live with Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira in midfield? Or Roy Keane and Paul Scholes? We've seen some brilliant teams dominate the Premier League and win multiple titles. I just don't think Liverpool and City are quite there yet.

Jurgen Klopp has only won it once, and Pep Guardiola has only won it back-to-back once. Sir Alex Ferguson did that loads of times. It's very hard to say either of these two current teams are the best ever. They probably need to go on and win multiple titles in a row before you could say that. The game is different now as well. City and Liverpool have fantastic squads. It wasn't like that back in my day. There wasn't so much stockpiling of talent at one or two clubs.

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And even then Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Vieira and Petit from Arsenal's Invincibles would walk into either of these teams. Think about some of the great Manchester United teams and the players they had as well. Are Van Dijk and Joel Matip a better pairing than Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were? You'd have Vidic and Ferdinand over Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte every day of the week. We have short memories sometimes.

I think this game will be a humdinger. But I think it will be a draw. City don't have to win it to win the title. And if you look at their fixtures, it's mindblowing. After this they've got Brighton at home, Watford at home, Leeds away, Newcastle at home, West Ham away, Aston Villa at home and a rearranged game with Wolves to come. Liverpool have to win this game. They can't afford to only draw it. But City won't play for the draw. They will go for it. So we could see some fireworks.

But I don't think it's all over if Liverpool win either. They have got some stinking games coming up. On paper the Everton game is an easy game – but it's not an easy game at all. They've also got to play Manchester United and Tottenham. I've played in these kind of games before. Obviously there was the famous decider in 1989. But we went to Liverpool in 1991 as well and won 1-0 – and I scored. That was a massive game. We were the only two teams going for it that year. We went to Anfield and won and it knocked the stuffing out of them.

That was late in the season too when these games become even bigger, and that's when you look for bravery from your team-mates. I don't mean going in for 50/50 tackles. I don't see that as brave. Brave is getting on the ball in big football matches. Not hiding.

Ten Hag could be a disaster for Europe

Manchester United are taking a big risk if they appoint Erik ten Hag as manager – and I think they will lose to Everton this weekend.

I watch Everton and every now and then they play alright. They just haven't got 90 minutes in them. They play great for 20 minutes then they drift in and out of the game. But I think they beat Manchester United. I do. The fans know this is a cup final, and I think if the players turn up in this game and have a right go and play at a good tempo, they win.

They've got to cut out the mistakes. But I've got a feeling they can win this game. Richarlison scored twice against Burnley and he was getting in good positions and causing problems. United are all over the place. The players know now that their manager isn't going to be in charge next season. Will they fancy it? But Ten Hag isn't the answer for me. He is coming from a club that's in a two-team league where you dominate every match. He doesn't know this league. I think it's a gamble. You can't win anything without a good manager and I'm not sure how good a manager Ten Hag is.

Meanwhile, Romelu Lukaku was taught a major lesson by Karim Benzema the other night and Chelsea need him to start showing up. If Chelsea score first in Madrid in the second leg it's game on in their Champions League quarter final, even though they are 3-1 down.

But Lukaku's miss at the end of the game at Stamford Bridge was a bad one – and if that had been Benzema he would have scored. It's as simple as that. Let's be honest, Lukaku hasn't performed. He was brought in for a big fee to decide big nights like those and he's missed a sitter.

It was as easy as you like, that chance. They are going to need him this season but he's not showing up. He's not getting involved. He's not getting across the pitch to get involved in the play. It needs to change. Everybody goes through a sticky spell in a season and Chelsea are going through one now. If away goals counted they would be out. I know Thomas Tuchel said the tie is dead already. But he was fuming. And remember, Paris St-Germain slaughtered Real Madrid. But they had a mad 25 minutes and went out, and Barcelona went to Madrid and won by four the other week. It's not over.

  • Champions League
  • Premier League
  • Jose Mourinho
  • Jurgen Klopp
  • Pep Guardiola
  • Rio Ferdinand
  • Sir Alex Ferguson
  • Liverpool FC
  • Manchester City FC
  • Arsenal FC

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