Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has claimed that Liverpool have been ‘very lucky’ this season and that City will soon overtake them at the top of the Premier League table.
The Reds hold a two point advantage over Pep Guardiola’s side going into the weekend’s fixtures, although City do have a game in hand, and Gundogan appears to believe that a second successive title is a mere formality for the champions.
The midfielder was even bold enough to take a sly dig at the Reds by highlighting their luck and tendency to score goals in the last minutes of matches when delivering his verdict on the race for the Premier League title.
“Everything is in our hands,” he told Turkish publication Fanatik. ” I think we played better football. We got seven points behind and got Liverpool. When we win our missing game [game in hand], we will pass them and become the leader. We shouldn’t forget that.
“I think they have been very lucky lucky in the past one-two months. They scored goals in many [last] minutes. Everything is in our hands. If we win the last six matches, we will be the champions.”
OPINION
Gundogan is right, if City win their last six games then they will win the title, there’s no disputing that. However, everything he’s saying comes off as hugely arrogant. Yes, you’re confident and rightfully so given City’s quality and the fact that they have a game in hand, but he’s talking as if it’s set in stone that they will overtake Liverpool and win the Premier League again. It’s not a foregone conclusion by any means. The Reds are in this title race to the bitter end and so it’s not going to be as simple as Gundogan is making out here. Then there’s his comment about Liverpool having been lucky and scoring lots of late goals. Those two things are not the same. Continually scoring late goals is not luck. That’s a sign of a good team who keep going to the end and have enough quality to consistently put the opposition to the sword in high pressure moments. There’s nothing lucky about that. Gundogan could have highlighted some key decisions that have gone the Reds’ way perhaps, but claiming that scoring late goals is lucky is simply way off the mark.
