Jamie Carragher has urged Liverpool’s players and supporters not to become too preoccupied with Manchester City’s form during the run-in to the Premier League title race.
The champions closed to within two points of Jurgen Klopp’s table toppers after beating Brentford last night and have a game in hand, so the Reds are now reliant on Pep Guardiola’s team to drop points somewhere along the line.
However, as the ex-Anfield defender pointed out on Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football, we still have an opportunity to land a direct blow on the Cityzens next month, as do Arsenal on Easter Sunday.
Carragher stated: “I think from Liverpool and Arsenal’s point of view, there will be that little bit of nervousness, almost like ‘[sighs] oh, City and are coming back and they’re gonna go on that long run’, but Arsenal and Liverpool have both got to play City.
“If you’re going to win the league, you’re gonna have to beat City. The other teams that you play against, you’re probably going to be favourites for most of the games that you go into because Arsenal and Liverpool are not going to play each other again.
“I think it’s important for both of those teams, for the players, staff and supporters not to get too downhearted with what Manchester City are doing. Forget City. When you play them, do the job and just concentrate on your own game and try to drag it out as long as possible. Who knows what can happen?”
We know all too well just how resurgent City can be in the second half of the season, and it can be easy to become dismayed when you see them rattling off a succession of wins as if they’re playing on the lowest difficulty setting in EA Sports FC.
However, Carragher is right to stress that Liverpool simply need to take care of their own business in the meantime and keep pace with them until the two sides meet at Anfield on 10 March, when the opportunity comes to get one over on them.
You can view the pundit’s comments below, via @SkySportsPL on X (formerly Twitter):
🗣️ "If you want to win the league, you're going to have to beat City"@carra23 👇 pic.twitter.com/Alk9ctExKr
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 5, 2024
We all wish LFC could win the league this season, but they won’t, simply because injuries will decimate them AGAIN, and they don’t have the depth in the squad to keep up with Man City who have most of their QUALITY players available!! This is the difference between LFC and Man City, they have 8-10 top quality players LFC has 5 at a stretch, thanks to FSG!!! Man City will win the EPL title AGAIN this season bcoz they SPENT MONEY on top players which Liverpool didn’t!!