Manchester City may have been touted as Premier League champions prematurely as Liverpool have edged six points behind Pep Guardiola’s men following their shock 3-2 loss to Tottenham on Saturday.
City’s summer transfer target Harry Kane and Son Heung-min equalled the league record of 36 goal combinations at the Etihad and tormented Ruben Dias and co with their movement and telepathic understanding.
“I never said the title race was over,” Guardiola insisted after the game. “It’s normal. In January and February the teams at the bottom won their games because everyone fights for everything. It will be difficult. We know it.”
Earlier that day, a much-changed Liverpool team came from behind to beat Norwich 3-1 at Anfield, with January signing from Porto Luis Diaz scoring his first goal for the club and Sadio Mane and Mo Salah also on target.
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The Champions League is also back and with both teams looking likely to reach the quarter-final, it could have a bearing on the domestic title race.
City are desperate to raise the European trophy for the first time. Guardiola has won the competition twice at Barcelona (in 2008-09 and 2010-11) and became the youngest manager to do so but he has not repeated the feat without Lionel Messi.
This may prove a distraction to their league campaign but a 5-0 win against Sporting Lisbon in the last-16 first leg has alleviated any pressure considerably ahead of the return game on home soil.
“It will be a huge mistake to think okay now we have the Premier League, we are now going to go for the Champions League instead. Big mistake,” Guardiola said, adding that “the Premier League is the most important thing”.
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Jurgen Klopp said at a press conference: “With Diogo it looks a little better than we first thought.
“We need further assessment. It’s something with the ligaments around the ankle. Everything is possible. It could go quick or the other way.”
A quadruple, although near impossible, is still on the cards for the Reds and Klopp wants to “squeeze out everything” the season offers to pick up as much silverware as possible.
Klopp admitted that this is the “best squad” he has ever worked with and while Liverpool have plenty of depth, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold will be relied upon virtually every game. Alexander-Arnold was afforded a well-earned rest during Saturday’s win over Norwich, though.
The last English club to win the Premier League and Champions League were Manchester United in the 2007-08 season and it will be intriguing to see how both City and Liverpool are able to juggle league and cup commitments over the coming weeks.
In 2018-19, the title race went right down to the final day of the season, with City finishing just a solitary point ahead of their rivals. Klopp and Liverpool could at least console themselves by lifting the Champions League after beating Tottenham in Madrid.
Analysis on both clubs from The Score
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
Man City
Look at City’s possession totals in some of those landmark league defeats since the beginning of last season: 66 per cent against Manchester United, 67 and 71 per cent vs Tottenham, 71 per cent vs Leeds United, 72 per cent vs Leicester. This is not an established correlation – City also had more than three-quarters of the ball against Arsenal and Everton and won by an aggregate score of 8-0.
But it does hint at the answer. You must stay deep, defend stoutly and get plenty of luck, but more importantly you must be very selective with your attacks. Attack too little and you just become a sitting duck; attack too often and Guardiola will simply instruct his players to ease off on the overloads and close the door. Attack just often enough and do so at rapid speed and with exact passes, and there is a weakness to be exploited.
And now we have ourselves a title race. Between now and the end of March, Liverpool must play Arsenal away and Manchester United at home. It is not unthinkable that they extend their run of consecutive league wins until they meet City, at the Etihad, on April 9. And if there’s any away team that is built to counter at pace, it’s them.
Liverpool
Not a huge amount to say about a home win over Norwich City; the biggest moment of Liverpool’s weekend came 35 miles away later the same day when Harry Kane scored the winner at the Etihad.
Still, it’s worth briefly reflecting on Jurgen Klopp’s claim last week that this is the strongest squad of players he has ever managed. Over Liverpool’s two matches this week, Klopp has started 18 different players and Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Divock Origi and Curtis Jones started neither of them and Saturday’s match changed when Origi was brought on. They really do have enough to compete on all fronts.
The Score is Daniel Storey’s weekly verdict on all 20 Premier League teams’ performances. Sign up here to receive the newsletter every Monday morning
Klopp downplayed his chances of winning a second league title recently saying: “I am not sure we’re in a position to get them on their toes. Actually, we have no chance to catch them.
“We have to win football games to keep teams away from us and to keep some distance to City which is very difficult with the results they get.”
Guardiola had no time for his rival’s mind games, though, shooting back: “Absolutely, I don’t believe him. And he thinks the same, otherwise he would not be the competitor he is.
“Of course he believes he can catch us. In football anything can happen.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/AVk2N76
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