With 60% of the season played we now know that realistically only two teams have a chance to win the league. The favourites remain Liverpool who have a six point advantage to Arsenal and a game in hand. At the beginning of the season it wouldn't have felt amiss to suggest that Arsenal would be in with a shout of capturing their first league title in 21 years but Liverpool is another matter. The Reds in their final season with Jürgen Klopp were coming across as a team that needed new injection and a new flavour. Instead they got a new manager and Arne Slot with the same players that Klopp had as his disposal is making his side look unbeatable. It is the same in European competition too and it would not feel like a stretch to say that Liverpool could win the Champions League this season or at least get to the final. As for the Premier League Liverpool remain the best side but will be wary that they only have a six point lead despite losing just once so far.
If Slot is to win the league in his debut year what does it say about Klopp's legacy? As great as Klopp was he was also a manager that could run out of steam and ideas. These past couple of months we have seen Manchester City fall apart in spectacular style with Pep Guardiola supposedly the best manager on the planet looking tired, jaded and lost. But Klopp had two of these breakdowns at Liverpool and was close to sending Borussia Dortmund down when he managed them in the Bundesliga. To counter that Liverpool historically won the league title in 2020 their first in 30 years and won the Champions League in 2019 and appeared in another two finals. No one can judge the Klopp years and he will always go down as one of the greats for the Reds. Let's remember of course that Slot walked into Klopp's players and a gift no doubt about it. But the success of Slot if he were to pull off the title win is still incredible. Make no mistake observers and the board at Liverpool understood this season to feel transitional. Achieve deep cup runs, maintain good football and finish in the top 4- that would have been taken. But the script has jumped from page 1 to 100 without a seconds thought and every player on the field is playing for the badge. This is to Slots credit because last season despite of course moments of quality this same Liverpool side looked out of ideas and the body language of the players looked in all honesty frazzled.
So what has Slot done to change the mentality of the team? One of the most obvious tactics has been switching players and Slot has been bold enough to even switch players positions during games. A good example has been Trent Alexander Arnold who has begun games especially earlier in the season in defence and by the second half has been playing as a midfielder. Slot has implemented a tactical formation change so gone is Klopp's attack all out 4-3-3 and instead that has changed to a 4-3-2-1. This change and with the quality of the players the Reds have mean that they can still attack but can now also control the tempo of the game, in effect strangling the game from the opposition. There have also been bonding sessions, everything from eating breakfasts together to having the team come in earlier for training. For now there can be no complaints what Slot has implemented is obviously working.
As for Arsenal they are in 2nd place and have every chance to still challenge for the title but incredibly it could well be suggested that the Gunners have regressed from past seasons. There is no doubt that Mikel Arteta has improved a side who 3 years ago were flirting with no European football. Arsenal are now a team who seem a shoe in for a top four place. This is a club who knows what finishing in 2nd place means. But they need that extra push. We have witnessed Arsenal collapse in the past two seasons and usually they have started to falter in March, this after playing attacking free flowing football. In the end whilst this has worked for the club in 80% of their games it's that final hurdle that extra 10% when the side have looked fatigued and or run out of ideas. The other 10% happens to every club, even the champions, a few surprise defeats and draws. Despite Arsenal's greatness they have never looked as good as a Championship winning Manchester City, Liverpool or in recent times Chelsea side. This season Arteta has relied more on defensive stability. Perhaps this is a call to the past seasons when even at their attacking greatness the Gunners have come up short. The result though is that every fan is crying out for a classic centre forward. And yet let's remind ourselves that only 3 teams have currently scored more goals than Arsenal. The problem is that the team in 1st place Liverpool has 10 goals more and that one position is Arsenal's objective. Could it not be argued that if one player Mohamed Salah was at Arsenal rather than Liverpool that the Gunners would be coasting to their first league title since 2004? Salah has been involved in 55% of Liverpool's goals- a staggering figure and Arsenal would have provided him the same chances he gets at Liverpool, instead a side chasing the league title have the German equilivant of Neal Maupay, ladies and gentlemen I give you Kai Havertz. Havertz has managed 21 goals in 57 games for Arsenal which is indeed much better than a Maupay statistic but when you are playing for a title contending side that figure of goals needs to been closer to 40. Havertz is well known for needing the ball to be teed up to him and remains a player that misses a flurry of golden chances. The Gunners are suffering from the loss of Bukayo Saka, but even when he was fit he was not the final piece in the puzzle. Can Arsenal still win the league? We may know by next weekend when they take on Manchester City, what they cannot afford to do is lose that game.
To win the Premier League: Liverpool 1.25, Arsenal 6.00, Manchester City 23.00, Nottingham Forest 151.00, Newcastle 151.00
Here's something that may surprise you, who is the best in form side in the Premier League? The answer is Manchester City. Despite their problems the club is unbeaten in their last five games and has 4 wins and one draw. Even after going on a two month rollercoaster nightmare ride that was only going in one direction Pep Guardiola's team has managed to get themselves back in the top four. It is all very well smashing the likes of Salford in the cup and Ipswich in the Premier League but beating Chelsea 3-1 after trailing feels like a turning point. It feels as if this City side has remembered how good it is even without Rodri and Erling Haaland is finding the net again. His glorious goal against the Blues was certainly one for the memory banks. Can City stage a title fight still? Well that's up to Liverpool and looks a distant goal but City can still challenge Forest and even Arsenal for 2nd place. What the past few weeks has taught us is not to give up on City just yet. And finally to Haaland who is in 2nd in the goalscorers league with 18 goals and just one behind Mohamed Salah. Haaland of course signed a staggering contract that will see the Norwegian earn £500,000 a week over the next nine and a half years. But he has only signed the contract for two reasons. The first is his own financial security and the second shows some respect to the club which should be applauded. He will never do a Kylian Mbappe and leave for free. It seems almost certain that Haaland will leave the club at some point and so having that layer of security was absolutely the correct thing to do for both parties.
Premier League Top Goalscorer: Erling Haaland at 1.91, Mohamed Salah at 2.10, Alexander Isak at 5.50, Cole Palmer at 23.00, Julio Enciso at 54.00
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