Liverpool and Arsenal’s defeats at the weekend could have handed the title to Man City, Trent Alexander-Arnold says. sky sports – However, Jurgen Klopp believes that being a “hunter” is the best fit for his side.
Man City entered last weekend’s second round of the Premier League in third place, aiming for a record fourth straight Premier League title, but a shocking home defeat to their rivals meant they were now top of the table with six games remaining. The difference was 2 points.
Liverpool suffered a heavy defeat at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday, but Arsenal also faced Aston Villa later in the day, handing control to Josep Guardiola’s side and ending the day top of the table for the first time since November. I saw it.
These results are even more ominous for Arsenal and Liverpool given City’s recent form in the second half of the season.
They are unbeaten since December 6 and have won 11 of 14 games since midway through this season, as Liverpool defender Alexander-Arnold said. sky sports Giving City a clear path to glory so close to the end of the season was tantamount to handing them the Premier League trophy.
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“Arsenal have been through it, we’ve been through it a couple of times, but when it comes to competing for the title with Man City, they’re borderline perfect,” he said.
“You can’t fail or make mistakes. If you get the upper hand on them, they don’t even blink an eye at that moment. They don’t look defenseless. This machine is well-oiled. ”
“That’s what they do. They click and there’s no stopping them. Giving them this advantage with six games left is like handing them the title. All we can do is , we can only hope that someone will do us a favor and increase our goal difference.”
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Free to watch: Highlights of Crystal Palace’s Premier League match against Liverpool
“We have six games left and it goes by quickly. Our goal is to win every game. That’s all we can do and try to make the most of it. It’s going to be difficult. But we’ve looked at the odds and percentages over the past few weeks.” The chances of winning the league change based on just one outcome. Anything can happen in the Premier League.
“They’ve got a great team, coach, and it’s hard to imagine them not winning at the moment. Strange things are happening in the Premier League.”
Even after Liverpool’s defeat, if the Gunners had continued their five-game winning streak at home and defeated Villa, City would have ended the weekend losing to Arsenal in the title race.
Alexander-Arnold believes the Gunners’ first league defeat of 2024 could be partially due to Liverpool’s defeat and is wary of the temptation to give either of their title rivals a point lead. I felt that I was scattering too much.
“If the result had been reversed and we had batted second and Arsenal batted first, we might have had a different mentality,” he said.
“It’s all about mentality. I think our result contributed to Arsenal’s result. They were potentially too excited and thought this is our chance, this is what we have to do. is”
“Maybe they thought too much, but if we and City both won, they made us think, ‘We just have to win,’ instead of seeing it as a chance to break out of the pack. No one has ever been in a three-horse race, so it’s ‘difficult’. “
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Watch for free: Highlights of Aston Villa vs. Arsenal’s Premier League victory
Manager Klopp: Hunters tag suits best in title fight
Over the past few years, Liverpool have played the role of “hunters” who hold Man City’s tail until the very end.
They have always finished second when both sides are involved in close title races, but Klopp said: sky sports This year could be the moment when Liverpool defy the odds and beat their rivals to lift the trophy.
“Maybe this is the perfect moment for us to become hunters again – who knows?” he said. “We played our game and we had one eye on Arsenal’s game and we were like, ‘Oh, we lost that game.’ That eased the situation a little bit, but people thought that Man City I say we’ll win all the remaining games, and of course we will.
“Can we win football games? Can we be us again? If we can do that, there’s a good chance we can do something really special. If not. , someone else deserves to be champion.”
“How do I approach it? With the fear of failing or with the excitement of maybe succeeding. I want to succeed. Until someone proves me wrong, I don’t know what to do.” There’s no way. We’ve done it in the past. Let’s take a chance in the final round and then we’ll see what we can do. ”
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Gary Neville thinks Liverpool have been ‘doing their best’ in the title race but are starting to struggle towards the end of this season
Gary Neville reflected on the disappointment of last weekend’s defeat to Palace, calling Liverpool’s title challenge a “monumental achievement” and highlighting the Reds’ failure to qualify for the Champions League last season and his plans for 2023. pointed out that they have to adapt to an almost new midfield / 24.
When the same suggestion was made to Klopp, he said he never expected to lead Liverpool this far in his final season and that a top-four finish would be acceptable.
“Who would have thought of that?” he said. “If someone had told me at the beginning of the season that we could only qualify for the Champions League, I wouldn’t have been angry.
“I wasn’t going to take it simply because you have to give the season a chance, but it’s been a positive season. But if you got on the microphone after the Palace game and asked people, they said it was no good. Would you say “What a wonderful season?”
“Not at all. I’ve been affected by recent events, but the job is to look positive again. It starts with me and I feel good. I want to give that to the boys. We’ll do our best.” The next big thing is right in front of us. ”
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