I had an immediate thought when I heard Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp exchange barbed comments ahead of Liverpool against Manchester City this week: “About time.”

There was something unnatural about the Premier League’s two leading managers competing for the title without an extra edge to their relationship.

Until the past seven days, the mutual respect was denying us a feud to match the early years of Sir Alex Ferguson v Arsene Wenger or Jose Mourinho v Rafa Benitez.

I am not encouraging all-out verbal warfare between the Manchester City and Liverpool managers, but when one club is a direct threat to the ambitions of another it is obvious the tensions, frustrations and irritations one is causing the other will surface. As long as it remains within the boundaries of good taste it is hugely entertaining. There is not a football fan among us that does not love a managerial scrap.

It would be strange if there was not the occasional spat between the coaches, like two heavyweight boxers sitting around the promoters in the build-up to a world title fight. By the end of their careers, Guardiola and Klopp already know their trophy haul will be lighter directly because of the other. That has to irk them.