BBC pundits Matthew Upson and Michael Brown have dismissed Liverpool’s chances of claiming the Premier League title this season.
The Reds have 30 points after 12 games, two behind leaders Manchester City, and are unbeaten in the league this campaign. However, Upson and Brown are unconvinced.
“I’m not convinced that they do,” Upson told the Football Daily podcast [11/11; 16:27] when asked if Liverpool had enough to topple City this term. “I just see Manchester City at the minute, and I think Liverpool are the closest to them, I just see City as a step above right now.”
Brown concurred: “They haven’t played well this year compared to last year. Mohamed Salah hasn’t fired. They need to be seeing off teams much better than what they are doing if they are going to challenge this Manchester City side.”
OPINION
It seems far too early to be dismissing Liverpool’s title challenge altogether. Jurgen Klopp’s team haven’t even hit top gear yet this campaign and they’re still unbeaten and only two points behind City. What’s going to happen when they do click into gear? It’s all well and good saying that they’re not playing as well as last year and that they need to be beating teams by more, but imagine how good they’re going to be when everyone is fully firing. For that reason it seems like a big mistake to rule them out of the Premier League title race already. Yes, City look incredible again this season, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to look this good for the entirety of the campaign. It’s only the start of November, you can’t be calling the title race a foregone conclusion, especially when Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur aren’t a million miles off City at the top. You can see where Upson and Brown are coming from, but their views just seem a little short-sighted at this moment in time.
