Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has outlined why he feels that Liverpool are more likely than Manchester United to mount a serious league title challenge this season.
Paul Merson believes only Liverpool and Arsenal are capable of keeping pace with Manchester City in the Premier League title race — while ruling Manchester United out of the equation just five games into the new season.
With four victories in its first five matches, Liverpool is currently just two points behind early leaders City. Jürgen Klopp’s side has demonstrated resilience in overcoming various obstacles during the early weeks of the season, a quality that was perhaps lacking at the start of the previous campaign.
Last term’s poor start left Liverpool playing catch-up and the Reds ultimately missed out on the Champions League, despite eventually regaining their form. Over the past five seasons, the Reds have consistently challenged City for the title and early signs suggest this year will be no different with their revamped squad.
But Merson has warned both Liverpool and Arsenal they must avoid making mistakes if they want to stay in contention for the title race before Christmas. The pundit also highlighted a potential problem that could undermine Liverpool’s aspirations of challenging for the Premier League once again.
He told Sky Sports: “Liverpool and Arsenal are the only contenders for Manchester City this season. Liverpool was poor against Wolves first half, really poor, but they came out in the second half and blew Wolves away. The problem is you can’t be doing that against the better teams. You don’t want to be going to the Emirates or the Etihad and playing like that, the game would be all over in the first half.
“You’ve just got to stick with Man City for as long as you can. Every game that goes by, you have to make sure you’re three points away from them, tops. For example, Manchester United are already nine points behind. They’re finished. Done. They can’t win the league because it’s Man City. If it’s any other team you can go, ‘Oh if you put a run together, you never know.’ But City are not losing four or five games.”
Currently, Liverpool and Arsenal both have 13 points, having drawn one of their five games. However, Merson cautioned his former club, Arsenal, about the challenging fixtures they face in their next three league matches, including clashes against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur and City.
He said: “The title race used to start in December and January — and it was about who had the best run after that. Now Man City have blown it out of the water. You can’t fall behind,” Merson continued. “If [Arsenal] lose to Tottenham and Man City, then they’re out of the title race by the start of October.
“Jamie Carragher said Brighton worked out how to beat Manchester United. Now it’s about how you beat Man City. That’s the name of the game for everybody.”
