Liverpool’s title to lose: Our experts have their say on Premier League

Arne Slot’s side have taken control of title race with five-point lead over Man City at top, while battle for Champions League is intense

Liverpool have surged clear at the top of the Premier League after a dramatic weekend in which Manchester City lost for the fourth game in a row and Arsenal dropped points.
Arne Slot has enjoyed a fine start in the post-Jürgen Klopp era with Liverpool five points clear at the top going into the international break. Bookmakers have them as favourites for the title – but can they last the distance?
Telegraph Sport’s football experts have their say on the destination of the league title and whether Ruben Amorim can return Manchester United to the top four.
I said Arsenal at the start of the season and I’m not going to change my mind after 11 games – even though they have a lot of work to do. Mikel Arteta needs a fit and firing squad, but I do think Liverpool will wobble at some stage. They were fortunate against Brighton and Chelsea, while Aston Villa should have been awarded a penalty against them.
Manchester City are in the midst of a wobble, beset by injuries, low on confidence and will be without their most influential player, Rodri, for the entire season so the opportunity that presents itself for the rest of the pack is clear. Late autumn blips are nothing new at the Etihad Stadium, though, and once players come back they are still likely to be the team to beat although it will probably be very close until the end.
A potential curveball for City is if manager Pep Guardiola reveals he is leaving at the end of the season – and a fifth straight title shot could be rendered academic if the club are found guilty in their legal battle with the Premier League and docked points.
Liverpool have made an excellent start and appear the favourites after 11 games but we have all learnt to never write off Manchester City. Traditionally, they hit their stride in the second half of the campaign and I’m still expecting them to kick into gear at the business end.
I went for Arsenal at the start of the season and would have had Manchester City as my runners up, but Liverpool have been the outstanding side so far. If you go on the evidence we have seen, Slot’s side are the new favourites. He has benefited from Klopp’s work before him, but a fresh voice and new ideas have reinvigorated the players and Anfield senses something special is happening.
In truth, it is too early to make a definitive judgment. Arsenal and City remain formidable opponents and are not cut adrift by any stretch of the imagination. City, in particular, tend to have a wobble at this stage of the season and always finish the season better than they started. And do not write off Arsenal; they have had a gruelling run of fixtures and will come again.
Easy to get excited about Manchester City having a wobble after the clocks go back; we seem to do it every year. This season’s version is more severe and the injury of Rodri deprives Guardiola of his MVP. But there is still a transfer window and the greatest tactical mind of a generation to help fix the current issues.
Perhaps this is a year when slightly fewer points win the league? Instinctively you feel that would benefit Arsenal or Liverpool, two teams deprived of titles which they would have won in any era before Guardiola’s. I would still back City to right their ship and sail serenely through the second half of the season.
Chelsea have put themselves in a great position to really push for a top-four place, especially as European football appears to be impacting Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur.
Brighton and Fulham are having fine seasons to date and Aston Villa are likely to be in the mix but it is hard to look past City, current leaders Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea for those Champions League positions. They have the four strongest squads in the Premier League.
I have been impressed with Enzo Maresca’s start at Chelsea and he seems to have found a formula to make it all work, while also possessing the best player in the league in Cole Palmer. I do not think Manchester United’s squad is good enough to sustain a top-four push. My dark horses would be Newcastle – if they can keep Alexander Isak fit.
I do not write the top three in strict order, they could all finish first, second or third, but they will be the top three in May. Fourth is far harder to predict.
The dark horses, as they were two years ago, are Newcastle. Not playing in Europe gives them more time to recover and prepare. Which is ideal for Eddie Howe’s style of play and means he can protect his best players to an extent. This is how they finished fourth in 2023.
But Chelsea’s squad, on paper, is far stronger than Newcastle, Manchester United, Tottenham and Aston Villa, who are the other contenders. Enzo Maresca seems to have got to grips with things in the dressing room and they only have the Conference League to worry about midweek – a competition they should be able to win while not over exerting themselves.
Manchester United are the others who might just sneak in with new manager Ruben Amorim. They are not as bad as Erik ten Hag made them look. Spurs look horribly inconsistent under Ange Postecoglou, while Villa are going to be stretched and distracted playing in the Champions League.
Nottingham Forest have the look of a team benefiting from momentum and a new approach which might lose effectiveness when they play everyone for the second time. Brighton and Spurs should be credible threats for the European places, Villa possibly suffering from their exertions in Europe. Could see Newcastle becoming the most sustained challengers for a Champions League place, and fifth may be enough if English clubs go far in Europe.