‘Now we are candidates’ – classy Liverpool take early title control

Liverpool have taken early control of the Premier League title race, but Alexis Mac Allister says he didn’t think they would be contenders at the start of the season.

Arne Slot’s side beat Aston Villa 2-0 at Anfield after reigning champions Manchester City had earlier slipped up 2-1 at Brighton.

The results gave Liverpool a five-point lead at the top over Pep Guardiola’s men, who have now lost four successive games.

“If we are top of the league by five points then it means something,” said Mac Allister.

“But we have to go step by step. If you asked me before the season started I would not say we were candidates, but now it looks like [we are].”

Records have tumbled under Slot, who replaced Jurgen Klopp in the summer, as his excellent start at Anfield continued with a ninth Premier League win in 11 games and 15 from 17 overall.

But the Dutch boss was wisely managing expectations as he added: “We are really happy that most of our players have stayed fit through this tough run.

“If I look at the games that are ahead, they are tough. It will be a tough season in general. Margins are small, we have a margin but it is small.

“There are many challenges to come for us.”

‘Experienced Reds can sustain title challenge’

Liverpool are looking to win the Premier League for the first time since 2019-20, and their side against Villa featured several players who were part of that trophy-winning team, including Mohamed Salah.

The Egypt international scored for a fourth successive league game when he netted the second at Anfield on Saturday night.

It continued Salah’s fine individual form, with his latest strike making the 32-year-old the first player in all competitions across Europe’s big five leagues this season to have registered double figures for both goals (10) and assists (10).

Former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman believes the Reds have the experience to maintain their challenge at the top.

“This group of players have been long into a campaign, some of them have won the Premier League and the Champions League, so of course they can sustain it,” he said on TNT Sports.

“If they stay fit and roll that starting 11 out and the five or six from the bench then of course they will go all the way.”

Statistics bode well for a 2019-20 repeat

After Liverpool’s win against Aston Villa and Manchester City’s loss at Brighton, Opta’s League Prediction model put the Reds’ chances of finishing first in the Premier League at 59.3%.

Liverpool were only given a 5.1% chance of winning the title pre-season by Opta’s projections, behind City (82%) and Arsenal (12%). It is the first time this season City have not been deemed favourites.

What also bodes well for the Reds is the similarity between this season and 2019-20 – when they won the Premier League.

Only in that title-winning campaign have they collected more points after 11 games of a Premier League season – 31 compared to 28 this term.

At the same stage of that season they were six points clear of second-placed Manchester City – compared to five this time. They went on to become champions by an 18-point margin.

And the statistics continue to make for impressive reading for Slot. He has now earned 28 points from his first 11 Premier League games in charge of Liverpool (W9 D1 L1), the joint-most by a manager after as many games in the competition, along with Guus Hiddink at Chelsea.

Man City the hunters again

While Liverpool are in the ideal position right now, their supporters will know there is a long way to go in the race.

Manchester City have won the last four Premier League seasons in a row and while some of those have been comfortable, they have also had to overcome the pressure of being the side hunting the leaders.

Two seasons ago they trailed Arsenal by four points after 10 games but battled back to ultimately finish five points clear.

In 2020-21 it was Chelsea who led the Premier League at the same stage as Liverpool lead this time.

The gap on that occasion was just three points after 11 games, but Manchester City went on a run of 12 consecutive wins that saw them 13 points clear of the Blues by the end of January.

As the club’s supporters often sing, “we fight til’ the end”.