Somehow, there were six cautions in the game between Manchester City and Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday. If memory serves right, most - if not all - were for tactical fouls.

It really isn't long ago that the City-Liverpool rivalry had a serious edge to it. On and off the pitch. Not any more.

That the off-the-pitch enmity seems to have been diluted is no bad thing. And no-one wants spitefulness to play a prominent part in Premier League matches.

But the respect between these two sets of players is now producing very civilised matches. There was some craziness toward the end of the Premier League match between the two at Anfield in February, but that all centred on the bizarre Dominik Szoboszlai-Erling Haaland incident.

FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page

Szoboszlai was dismissed for illegally denying Haaland a clear goalscoring opportunity and that is the only straight red card given to a Liverpool...