Manchester City and Liverpool have unquestionably been the best teams in England for the past two seasons. Liverpool have appeared twice in the Champion's League, winning one. They are also very close to lifting the Premier League in nearly 30 years. While Manchester City have been one of the most successful, if not the most successful team in England in the past decade. Both these teams have worked hard and deserve every bit of success. But, what makes these teams different from the rest? What is it that they do differently?

Well, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola deserve a lot of credit for their contributions to the success of their respective clubs. But, there is a lot more factors that have played a significant role in the success of these clubs.

This is my opinion on what these teams have done differently.

Transfers.

Both these teams have spent big in the transfer market to recruit top talents to help them out. Players from all over Europe have flocked to England with aspirations to win titles with these two English Giants.

Manchester City.

Manchester City have signed a lot of players. The French market was an attractive option for City in 2017 when they manged to sign Bernardo Silva and Ben Mendy from Monaco. They also signed Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling and Kyle Walker from the Premier League. Manchester City also produced talents like Brahim Diaz, Jadon Sancho, Manu Garcia, Angelino and Phil Foden from their academy but, only the latter has (kinda) managed to break into the first team. Signings like these have added significant value to Guardiola's squad.

Liverpool.

Watching Jurgen Klopp build his squad piece by piece, layer by layer has been one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Let's be honest, the squad that Klopp took over from Brendan Rodgers was pretty average. Jurgen Klopp built his squad around players like Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson. Acquisitions of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Mohamed Salah and Van Dijk were also very crucial. Alisson was the last piece of the puzzle at Liverpool.

Tactics.

Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola has been widely regarded as one of the best managers in modern day football. Guardiola is promotes the footballing philosophy of 'tiki-taka', which is a Spanish style of play that characterizes working up the ball from deeper positions through short passes and player movements.

Manchester City play a 4-3-3 without possession. They press aggressively and play a high defence line. City love to keep possession and they move the ball up through channels patiently. Pep Guardiola is also known for fielding 'inverted-fullbacks'. Inverted fullbacks basically occupy centre midfield positions when the team moves up to break up any opposition counter attacks.

When in possession, City move into a 2-3-5. Wingers stay wide creating pockets of space for Centre Midfielders to exploit. They either make aggressive runs into these spaces or play dangerous crosses for the striker or winger to finish. The centre midfielders are like No.8's but with more defensive duties.

Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp follows the footballing philosophy of 'gegenpressing'. In this style of play a team tries to win possession while pressing aggressively and intentionally rather than falling back to defend.

Liverpool play a 4-3-3 too. They like to keep the possession but that is not their top priority. They have quick and pacy forwards who try to win possession in the oppositions half. They force the opposition into making mistakes and score rather than relying on build up play to create chances. Fabinho sits deep as an anchorman and dictates play from a deep position.

Liverpool also shift into a 2-3-5 going forward. But, they do it differently. Liverpool wingers play as inside forwards leaving space for wingbacks. While, the centre midfielders stay behind to pick rebounds or have a go at the goal from the distance. The wingbacks are crucial as they are the most productive creators. No wonder Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson rack up somany assists. Firmino plays as a 'false 9' in this system. Which means he drops in the midfield to give his team a numerical advantage, he is involved in hold up play and he makes key passes to Mane and Salah.