Michael Owen makes title claim as ex-Red looks ahead to pivotal Man City game

When asked whether he agreed with the assessment of Liverpool being out of the title race, Michael Owen said he believed his former side were “at the moment”, as reported by the Metro.

The Reds’ latest slip-up at home clears the way for Manchester City to enforce a 10-point-gap between themselves and the Premier League champions.

“Yeah, at the moment, it’s seven points and a game in hand what City have got. That’s a lot, we’re past halfway,” the ex-Red said. “You’d have to say if Liverpool don’t beat Manchester City at the weekend then… because it’s not just the points total, it’s what’s going to happen in the future and Liverpool just aren’t playing well enough and haven’t played well for the last month or so.”

With Jurgen Klopp’s men loitering on the edge of the top four, all eyes will fall on the impending clash with the Cityzens at the weekend.

Make no mistake, Liverpool would still very much have their work cut out for them, even if we managed to secure a victory against Pep Guardiola’s high-flying side.

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Regardless of calls claiming that our title challenge is over, we’d be foolish to overlook the opportunity to cut down the gap to City on Sunday.

With the club set to face more open and expansive sides in City, Leicester, and RB Leipzig in Europe, we have the perfect opportunity to nail down some points on the board and build up momentum again whilst we await the return of key stars.

We’d presume Alisson Becker and Sadio Mane will be available long before the end of the month, with Diogo Jota potentially a possibility for the end-of-February clash with Sheffield United.