Man City's Win Leaves the Premier League in Limbo

Manchester City's 3-0 win over Liverpool should have been the main talking point of the weekend. On Match of the Day, though, the focus quickly moved away from the scoreline and towards the uncertainty hanging over the club.

Toby Alderweireld and Wayne Rooney discussed how the result sits awkwardly alongside City's current position. The club has been found guilty of financial breaches, and the sanction has yet to be decided. A points deduction is one of the outcomes on the table, which means the standings City are building could still be rewritten once a decision lands.

That is what makes the situation so hard to judge. Points won on the pitch count for little if the table may change later, and it is difficult for supporters, rival clubs and neutrals to weigh up the title race when the final shape of it is unknown. The league is effectively waiting on a verdict before it can fully take stock of what has happened this season.

For Liverpool, the defeat was a painful one in its own right. For the division as a whole, the bigger question is how the competition can move forward cleanly while the case remains open. Until the punishment is confirmed, the win will carry an asterisk in many people's minds, whatever happens in the matches still to come.