Liverpool were given a painful reminder of the way a European hangover can derail a title challenge when they slumped to 1-1 draw at home to Burnley on Saturday. It followed on from a gruelling midweek clash with Sevilla and leaves the Reds with just one point from their last two games. Spurs befell a similar fate and were held at home by a battling Swansea side that put 11 men behind the ball and took advantage of their longer rest period. But Man City blew Watford away in a 6-0 thrashing that threw down the gauntlet to their rivals, and Liverpool are already five points behind Pep Guardiola’s men.
So why did Man City succeed where Liverpool failed? Watford and Burnley provided a similar calibre of opposition as both have made decent starts to the seasons, but having home advantage really should have given Liverpool the edge. Perhaps one difference is the extreme competition for places in City’s vaunted attack. Leroy Sane, who came off the bench to put Liverpool to the sword with two very well taken goals in the 5-0 win the previous weekend, did not even make the starting 11 in either City’s midweek Champions League game, a 4-0 drubbing of Feyenoord, or in the 6-0 victory over Watford on Saturday. Bernardo Silva, a £45 million summer signing from Monaco, started against Feyenoord, and for the Watford game in came Raheem Sterling, a £50 million signing from Liverpool two years ago, and he had a great game. City have two excellent players in every position, apart from centre back, and that attacking firepower has seen them score 15 goals unanswered in their last three games.
You cannot really say the Reds are as well covered across the squad. When you play Champions League football it really is a squad game and the Reds look a little thin in this department. Liverpool brought in Daniel Sturridge for the suspended Sadio Mane for the Burnely game and he could not get on the score sheet. Philippe Countinho returned to the starting 11 but was unable to influence the game in the way Kevin De Bruyne did for Man City. Liverpool’s finishing was wayward, while Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus were deadly. As such, Man City are now the 11/10 favourites for the Premiership title and Liverpool are 25/1. If you fancy those odds, check a site like YouWager before placing some action, make sure you are getting the most competitive price and get involved. The sensible money would go on City as their attack has been terrifying of late, but 25/1 still looks attractive on a Liverpool side that have shown flashes of their brilliance in this campaign.
But many of the old failings were apparent at Anfield on Saturday. Liverpool were not clinical enough in the final third: they had 70% of possession and 35 chances but could only score once. They barely tested rookie goalkeeper Nick Pope, who will have far sterner challenges ahead. Once again Mane was a huge miss. Roberto Firmino and Sturridge do not score enough goals, not compared to Aguero, Harry Kane and Romelu Lukaku. And the Reds are woeful at defending set pieces. Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip made a dreadful attempt to clear from a corner, allowing Chris Wood to lay the ball on a plate for Scott Arfield to slot home. Burnley had two further attempts cleared off the line and, despite their dominance, you could say Liverpool were fortunate not to lose. Throw in the dreaded European hangovers on top of that, and the Reds could face a real battle to make the top four, let alone win the title.
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