LIVERPOOL, England -- There are more backslaps and hugs between players than flying pizzas and tunnel bust-ups when Liverpool take on Manchester City, but while this fixture lacks the animosity and belligerence of old Manchester United-Arsenal clashes, the sheer quality displayed during Sunday's 2-2 draw at Anfield showed that the rivalry is as intense as when Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger's greatest teams locked horns two decades ago.
For many, nothing will ever match the sense of occasion and needle that accompanied the majority of those United-Arsenal encounters between 1998 and 2004, when the two clubs won seven Premier League titles between them.