Former Premier League players Alan Shearer and Nigel de Jong have weighed in on this season’s title race as Manchester City extended their lead at the top to eight points.
Pep Guardiola’s side defeated Brentford 1-0 thanks to a Phil Foden goal whilst second-placed Chelsea were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Brighton on Wednesday.
Ex-Newcastle man Shearer believes City’s defence is setting them apart from the other sides in the league.
“They’re hardly conceding which is going to make it really difficult for Liverpool and Chelsea to get back into this race,” Shearer told Amazon Prime Sport (via the Liverpool Echo).
“Particularly with Man City’s next two games in the league, if they’re to win them it’s pretty much over isn’t it?”
The Citizens face a trip to the Emirates to face Arsenal in their next league fixture on January 1, before welcoming Chelsea to the Etihad.
If Guardiola’s men are to earn all three points against Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, they could be 12 points ahead of Liverpool before the Reds’ trip to Stamford Bridge on January 2.
However, former City midfielder Nigel de Jong has insisted that the title race is far from over: “It’s still a race, there’s plenty of games still to be played Chelsea and Liverpool won’t make it easy.
“City getting the three points in order to cruise ahead even with Chelsea conceding late I think that’s the problem Chelsea had, they’ve been conceding too many goals and late goals dropping points which is making it easier for City.”
The Manchester club are looking impressive of late and with Liverpool and Chelsea far from convincing in their last outings, the City faithful will be confident that the gap between themselves and their nearest challengers will continue to increase.
The crunch fixture between the Reds and Thomas Tuchel’s men on Sunday is huge – the loser can almost rule themselves out of the title race.