Manchester City are still the favourites to win the Premier League but the signs are looking like Liverpool are about to take the champions over into 1st place and this past week the Reds made another case for it happening.
Liverpool won their game in hand last week beating Arsenal 2-0 away from home in what was a very impressive result given Arsenal's form and the fact that they are trying to finish in 4th place. With 9 games to go City have 70 points and Liverpool have 69 having played the same games. Could it all come down to the crunch match in just over two weeks time when Liverpool travel to the Etihad? Not many would back against City to get the win but one has to wonder if Liverpool's sheer attacking quality is going to win them the title this year and be too much for City? Of course City famously lost out on buying Harry Kane last summer in what looked to be a done deal before Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy stuck his heels in. And that was the end of that and almost justifiably so as City won games anyway and after their defeat at home to Crystal Palace then went four months undefeated, this is what City can do.
However one has to wonder how much Pep Guardiola is to blame if a genuine striker is the reason that Liverpool take what could be the closest of titles. Guardiola of course is one of the best if not the best manager in the world but he has made some odd decisions lately. Take the winter transfer window where striker Ferran Torres was sold for 55m euros to Barcelona. True Torres had not been a 'Sergio Aguero' for the club since he joined in 2020 on a 5 year contract no less. However he was only 22 when he was sold and had scored 16 goals in all competitions in 43 games that isn't a terrible record at all. For Barcelona he has already scored 4 goals from 8 games and seems to have fit into the team without any problem. It is no secret that Guardiola loves Barcelona, despite his deep ties with Manchester City his heart will always be with Barca and one has to wonder with the clubs recent struggles and transition if Pep wasn't doing his old team a favour? He could justify it with the fact that City were pulling away in the league and that Torres was injury prone. Having his very good friend Xavi as manager of Barcelona probably sealed the deal too. Torres shouldn't have been sold, bottom line.
It gets worse though as on deadline day to replace Torres City bought the highly rated Julian Alvarez from River Plate a player who has bagged 20 goals this season and is 22 and all for only £14m. But the moment they got him they loaned him back, because that is what City can do. Could any other Premier League club who don't have an out and out recognised striker have come to such a deal? The fear is these decisions will play into Liverpool's hands. Meanwhile Jurgen Klopp was busy buying Luis Diaz a player unheard of outside the Premier League and he didn't loan him back to his club, instead he did the novel thing- keep him and Diaz has already scored a couple of goals and made a huge impact on an already impressive team.
Premier League title winners: Manchester City 1.44, Liverpool 2.75, Chelsea 201.00
On the blue half of Merseyside there was joy and misery in the space of 75 hours as Everton beat Newcastle in the Premier League winning the game 1-0. The goal came courtesy of an Alex Iwobi 99th minute winner. Yes 9 minutes into injury time and yes an Alex Iwobi goal, rub your eyes. In fact it was a well made goal and was nicely set up by the out of sorts Dominic Calvert- Lewin who doesn't completely look like he's on the ball since coming back from injury. The extra time in the game was due to a protester tying themselves to the goal post- and in fact it's become a common thing in the game now. Manager Frank Lampard ended the game with a suspected broken hand due to his celebrations, it said it all how much pressure he is feeling. The win was huge but there would be a come down as the Toffees were knocked out of the FA Cup at the quarter final stage against Crystal Palace. Exiting to a Premier League side can happen but this game finished 4-0 to the Eagles and it probably said more about Everton's fragile state than the excellence of Palace. The club are an absolute shambles away from home and that will worry Lampard with the games left to play in the league.
As for the other FA Cup games, Liverpool weathered to a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, Manchester City smashed Southampton 4-1 and Chelsea eased to a 2-0 victory over Middlesbrough. A mouth watering semi final will see Liverpool take on Manchester City and Chelsea will play Crystal Palace.
To win the FA Cup: Manchester City 2.50, Liverpool 3.25, Chelsea 3.75, Crystal Palace 13.00
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