Manchester City’s once seemingly unbreachable 12 point gap at the summit of the Premier League table has been cut to just three in recent weeks and now, almost out of thin air, we have a real title race on our hands.
Jurgen Klopp’s ‘mentality monsters’ Liverpool are now breathing down the necks of Pep Guardiola’s defending champions following a thrilling Saturday that saw the Reds beat Norwich City 3-1 and City fall to a 3-2 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. Liverpool then closed the gap even further by hammering Leeds United 6-0 midweek.
Former Premier League goalkeeper and England international Paul Robinson now believes that the title race could be decided when these two giants of English football collide in April.
“It all changed very quickly. We didn’t see City stumbling like they have done,” the ex-Blackburn Rovers and Spurs stopper told Betfred’s Football Show.
“Liverpool, we talked about a few weeks ago, if there’s any team that can put a run together, it’s them. I mean, you look at their record - they don’t really lose and they’re unbeaten since last November.
“They seem to be sweeping teams aside at the moment, they played well in the Champions League and it does look like there’s a title race on. But when you look at the two fixtures, I think Liverpool have got to go to City and then the only team they play in the top six is Arsenal. City, on the other hand, they’ve got to go to West Ham. So they’ve basically got similar away games in their remaining fixtures in the top six. Yes, they’ve got top six sides to play at home, but away from home they both have very, very similar fixtures.
“There’s a massive, massive game coming up on April 10th: Man City vs Liverpool. It could all hinge on that game because I can’t see where any of them are going to drop points.”
Klopp has already hinted that Liverpool will concentrate purely on what’s in front of them and not worry about how City are doing, and Robinson believes, given all the fronts that Liverpool are competing on right now, they have done a fantastic job.
“Like I said a few weeks ago, if anyone can mount a charge on City, it’s Liverpool because they are capable of putting a run together. But they’re competing on many, many fronts. They’ve got the League Cup final this weekend, the Champions League, the FA Cup, the Premier League… It's how they rotate that squad and they seem to be doing a fantastic job of it at the moment.
“They’ve got to pick up the maximum points they can. Like I touched on, they don’t seem to lose at the moment. I was looking back at their fixtures and their recent record - yeah, they have dropped points in areas, as City have done, and neither of them seem to lose which is obviously why they’re at the top of the league.”
Robinson was also delighted that his former club helped set-up such an enthralling title race, despite their subsequent performance against Burnley on Wednesday. He added: “You know what? Thanks to Tottenham Hotspur for giving us a title race. I mean, they didn’t give us much else against Burnley the other night, but what they have given us is one fantastic finish to the season.
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