Former Reds man Jamie Redknapp says his former club are the favourites to win the Premier League title this season because of Aymeric Laporte’s injury leaving Manchester City exposed at the back.
The Sky Sports pundit claims that taking Laporte out of City’s backline is the equivalent of removing Virgil van Dijk from the Reds, which might be a slightly exaggerated point, but at least it makes some sort of sense.
Redknapp, however, then went on to claim that the Reds might not make the top four without Van Dijk.
"If you take Van Dijk out of Liverpool they will just about scrape in to the top four"
Jamie Redknapp believes Aymeric Laporte's injury means Man City are no longer favourites for the Premier League
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— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 14, 2019
That completely ignores the fact that Joel Matip and Joe Gomez exist, which is a pretty big oversight. Van Dijk is a world-class player and has made a massive difference for the Reds, but the Champions League spots would certainly still be attainable without the Dutchman.
Gomez is the Reds’ third-choice centre-back at the moment and he walks into the Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United starting XIs. Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, would kill to have someone of Gomez’s quality available to him at the moment.
Van Dijk is great, but Redknapp has got this one wildly wrong.