After a huge weekend in the Premier League for Liverpool and Man City and not just in terms of results, Pep’s side are now favourites again!
Before this weekend’s game, Liverpool were slight favourites to win the Premier League with most bookmakers. After such a good season last year and winning the league by 18 points, this came as no surprise.
However, after their 2-2 draw with Everton, coupled with the fact they were beaten 7-2 by Aston Villa in Game Week 3, City now sits in pole position.
Liverpool started the season well winning their first three games but it came crashing down away to Villa. The Merseyside Derby was up next and it was one of the most exciting ones for years. Everton are in fine form and sit top of the league and have one of the best squads they’ve had.
Klopp’s side went into this one as the favourites and it didn’t take them long to take the lead. Sadio Mane opened the scoring inside three minutes with a great finish inside the box. However, the biggest moment in the game and Liverpool’s season so far came moments later.
Fabinho put a ball into the box and Van Dijk went to challenge it. Pickford came flying out and took out Van Dijk, whose knee appeared to bend backwards. He was forced off with an injury and looked in a lot of pain.
The game would go on to finish 2-2, with Liverpool having an injury-time winner disallowed due to offside however it didn’t look it on VAR! Since the game, its been revealed Van Dijk needs surgery on an ACL injury that would typically rule a player out for the season.
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City’s Title To Lose?
Man City are now the favourites and are priced at 5/6 to win the Premier League, with Liverpool at 5/2. If you look a bit closer into other results and last season, it becomes clear why this may be.
Obviously, Van Dijk is a huge miss in Liverpool’s defence. He is the best defender in the world and as soon as he went off, Liverpool conceded two headers. Without him, their defence is considerably weaker, especially given how much their full-backs attack. However, one man doesn’t make a team and it may just be the pressure of being champions that has got to Liverpool.
They have no dropped four points in the league and it took them until February 29th last season to drop four points! On top of this, the four points they dropped together were in succession. When you compare that to last season, this happened once and in Game Week 35 and 36. This was when the title was done and it didn’t matter what the results were.
That being said though, Man City aren’t in their best form. They have won two out of four, drawing one and losing the other. City do have greater squad depth though than Liverpool and through the course of the season, we expect this to show in the table. Pep’s side also have the experience of retaining a Premier League title having won it in 17/18 and 18/19.
5/6 is a good price and in a months time, this could be a lot smaller with Liverpool having to play Leicester and Man City in the next month.
