Liverpool may be level pegging on points with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League table, but Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has admitted it will be a ‘real struggle’ for them to lift the title in May.
Speaking on his podcast, he explained that Manchester City were now favourites and that Liverpool were in for a ‘major battle’. He said:
“Manchester City have set themselves a standard in the last week. If they are going to win the league they need to maintain that standard every week because they can’t afford to make mistakes.
“Liverpool are a very good side and they will realise they are in for a major battle. Liverpool were seven points ahead a few weeks ago, but now City are definitely favourites for the title from what I am seeing.
“Sergio Aguero has lifted City in the last month. He has grabbed games by the scruff of the neck and has been a champion player. He is standing up. If City are going to win back-to-back titles I think they can look towards the last month and think about his influence, he has been outstanding.
“If you look at the size of Liverpool and the fact they haven’t won the title in so long, there is an air of desperation at the club to win the title. A few weeks ago they were seven points clear and when Manchester City lost at Newcastle you thought it was there – what an opportunity for Liverpool that was. They still have that chance, but it has become a lot more difficult in the last week.
“What will happen in Merseyside, as it did in Manchester all those years ago, is you will be walking down the street and people will be saying ‘I think we can do it, go on let’s do it this year’. You can be walking down the street, having a break and relaxing, and then all of a sudden your mind gets thrown back to the title and you can’t get away from it. It just hits you every minute of every day.”
Liverpool, of course, have not won the title since 1990 a run that has stretched the entirety of the course of the Premier League. In that time Neville has won eight Premier League titles for Manchester United and knows what it takes to come out on top in a tense title race.
“I remember those first years going for titles and the weight of expectation and thinking ‘we have to try to get over the line’ and you carry it with you every minute of every day. It becomes psychological and you get tension with it and get a bit more closed and safer with your passing and don’t play with the same freedom. That’s where you need experience.
“I remember when Blackburn got over the line in 1994/95, they had a bit of a lead and they just got over the line in the end. I think that’s how it will have to be for Liverpool. They need to hang in there and hope City’s fixtures pile up and become a problem and then they can capitalise.
“It will be a real struggle for Liverpool to win the league, but it always was going to be, so this is not something new.
“I think in the last week the race has really started. We are on the home stretch.”
