Liverpool are top of the league and put up a decent challenge last season. They only fell away in April time so were involved for most of the season.
They will be involved again - I won’t discount them - but I think both City and Arsenal are stronger. That is easily evidenced by the last 2 consecutive seasons where both teams finished above Liverpool by a decent number of points.
I think we are a better team than last year, and City will be right up there like they always are.
Will know a lot more about Liverpool over the next few weeks. Chelsea, Arsenal and Villa to play. They also have a very tough run of games in early December - Madrid, City and Newcastle.
That still remains to be confirmed imo. Slut is only yet to be tested against some serious opposition. If he can survive the next month or two and stay in a good position I’ll take them serioisly, but atm I don’t see them being as involved as last season.
Unfortunately the standard is so high, it might only be early but given what’s required to win the league the 5 points dropped to Brighton and Bournemouth might be looked back on with regret.
We dropped some silly points first half of last season and our epic run home of 16 wins in 18 still wasn’t enough.
Yep, these are the crazy margins we’re dealing with. Did we need those shit results last season to mentally push the team to go on that run we did from New year’s onward though, that’s the concern.
It’s hard enough winning the title against Man City but dropping points against relegation clubs like Bournemouth, before a run of games against Liverpool, Newcastle and Chelsea, where we’re likely to drop points, makes it even more difficult.
This is looking like another season where we don’t lose to rival clubs but drop points against lower teams, as well as decisions going against us.
With winning margins so small, it’s poor decisions going against us, and Man City getting an easy ride, that will likely mean they’ll win it again, unless they get the punishment they deserve.
This situation is unprecedented though. Recent history suggests that the league comes down hard on teams breaking the rules. Everton and Forest are recent examples of this.
My worry is City get say a 12 point deduction but we fail to capitalise and either they win the league anyway or we allow Liverpool to take advantage.
One thing about City is you never see them get punished by teams on the field whenever they have an off day, or concede a big chance, or are involved in a close decision with VAR and the officials.
We are asking a great deal from ourselves to outdo City from here on out. By no means out of the race but we’ve had far too many off days, red cards and injuries of late.
Another uptick in form needs to happen and quickly.
If we get through this schedule within 5 points off City & Liverpool, we are winning the title.
Mind, this could be a disaster if our injury record doesn’t improve.
