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Liverpool retained enough talent when manager Jurgen Klopp left that the aspirations were still to finish in the top-four positions.
Despite being the only team in the whole league to only add one player in the summer transfer window, they still had Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister and many more international stars to trot out each week.
But the few experts that didn’t tip Manchester City to win the league yet again seemed to lean toward Arsenal with an admission that there would be a transition for the Reds to acclimate to Klopp’s replacement, Arne Slot, and a legitimate title challenge would be too lofty a goal for a new manager.
When the club got off to a quick start, there was examination of the schedule and a suggestion they hadn’t played anyone of quality and just wait until the tough teams come.
They’re in the middle of that challenging stretch and they’re flying. Top of the Premier League and top of the Champions League table, the Reds are rolling.
Starting on Oct. 20, Liverpool was staring at a schedule of Chelsea, RB Leipzig (Champions League), Arsenal, Brighton, Bayer Leverkusen (CL).
Four wins and one draw (against Arsenal) have the Reds atop the table in the Premier League. With an emphatic 4-0 thumping of Leverkusen, the reigning German champions, on Tuesday the most recent triumph, they also sit alone atop the new Champions League standings and are the only team to win every game after four rounds.
Left to come in this stretch include Aston Villa on Saturday in the FUBO Game of the Week (in a later start, 3 pm ET), Real Madrid in the Champions League on Nov. 27, then a massive trio of Premier League games — Manchester City on Dec. 1, Newcastle on Dec. 4 and Everton on Dec. 7, which is their last visit to grand old Goodison Park, the home of their hated rivals less than a mile from Anfield.
The key for Liverpool is it has been more solid at the back than it was under Klopp. The Reds have conceded only six goals in 10 games, but they’ve got goals from so many of their forwards.
Salah has seven league goals, Luis Diaz has five, but they’ve also had big goals from Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota while Darwin Nunez has caused his special brand of chaos.
It’s not about shutting down one player when you play Liverpool, it’s who will find the opportunity when you pay attention to whomever has the hot hand.
With the way Liverpool has been barging through opponents, if it reaches mid-December atop the league, it’s going to be a reality that if anyone is capable of snapping City’s championship string, it may just be Slot’s squad.
Long City haul
While Liverpool are up to the challenge so far, let’s not get carried away. City is just two points behind them and lost for the first time in the past 28 league games last weekend.
But alarm bells are ringing because it was Bournemouth who beat them and it was sandwiched between a pair of bad Cup losses — 4-1 to Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday in Champions League action and being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Spurs last week.
So three losses in a row which were preceded by slender one-goal wins against dreadful Southampton and Wolves.
Is there really anything wrong with City or is this just a team that’s a bit bored by winning so much? There’s no question the loss of recent Balon D’Or winner Rodri to a knee injury had as much of an impact as anything.
Going back two years, City’s blips always came when Rodri was injured or suspended. But it must be troubling for Pep Guardiola that the team doesn’t seem to be able to replace their key midfielder, even with so many high-priced options at their disposal.
This next month will tell us all we need to know about City, in the league at least. The Sky Blues face Brighton this weekend, who may sit in eighth but they gave Liverpool all they could handle last week, then Spurs, who just beat them in their cup match, and then the showdown at Liverpool.
If the Citizens can’t find a way to plug that massive Rodri-sized hole in midfield, they may struggle to keep up with Liverpool’s pulsating pace this season.
United in hope
While it doesn’t help Manchester United directly, Sporting Lisbon’s 4-1 waxing of Manchester City in the Champions League this week offers salvation.
Sporting’s manager, Ruben Amorim, has reached an agreement to take over the reigns at United, though he’s de facto serving out his notice staying in charge of his Portuguese club until the November international break.
While there’s no guarantee United’s players will proffer the same results as Sporting, Amorim’s style — using lethal counter attacks and playing with speed — would seem to be built for the fast-paced Premier League.
There’s an expectation, even vocalized by Sporting’s front office, that Amoroim will raid his former club for players, if not in the January transfer window then next summer.
Swedish striker Vitor Gyokeres scored a hat trick for Sporting against City. He’d already been linked to Arsenal, but considering his soon-to-be former manager will be at United, it would not shock at all if he found his way to the red half of Manchester.
Shooting blanks
It’s not just Manchester City hitting a rough patch. Arsenal lost in Champions League 1-0 to Inter Milan on Wednesday and the Gunners are winless in their past three Premier League games, sandwiching a 2-2 draw with Liverpool with losses to Bournemouth and last week’s 1-0 to Newcastle.
Being blanked against Milan, Bournemouth and Newcastle is troubling for a club that has only one player, Kai Havertz, in the top 20 of league scorers and he’s 12th. Arsenal is now seven points back of Liverpool and faces a tough London Derby this weekend against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Both clubs are level with 18 points and considering how many clubs will be in front of them, Arsenal can’t be happy with anything less than a win if it wants to cling to any title aspirations this season.
This weekend’s slate
Saturday: Brentford v. Bournemouth; Crystal Palace v. Fulham; West Ham v. Everton; Wolves v. Southampton; Brighton v. Manchester City; Liverpool v. Aston Villa.
Sunday: Manchester United v. Leicester; Nottingham Forest v. Newcastle; Tottenham Hotspur v. Ipswich; Chelsea v. Arsenal.