Why Isn’t Liverpool the Top Contender to Win the Premier League Title This Season?
With the Premier League 2023-24 season coming down to the wire, and Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester City locking horns in a three-way battle in the title race, the most viable question that is making the waves on the internet is – Who is going to win this season’s Premier League title? Manchester City are the table toppers at the moment, leading both Arsenal and Liverpool by two points.
With six match weeks remaining, Pep Guardiola’s side sits comfortably on 73 points, while both the Gunners and the Reds are on 71 points, with only a marginal goal difference separating both teams in the standings. However, despite this close title race, many are of the view that Liverpool is not the best contender to win the 2023-24 Premier League title, given their inconsistent performance in big matches.
The last match week saw City thrashing Luton Town 5-1 and claimed the top spot. Their joy would have been short-lived if both Arsenal and Liverpool had not squandered their chances by losing their respective matches. Currently, the Reds sit in third place in the league with 71 points, following their shocking defeat at home against Crystal Palace. In this article, we’ll delve into the reasons why Liverpool is not the best contender anymore to lift the Premier League title despite being one of the favorites to go over the line this season.
Recent poor attacking form
One of the high-scoring teams across all competitions, Liverpool has experienced a significant slump in their goal-scoring ability, courtesy of an unorganized and flawed attacking department in their team. They have the third-best goal difference record this season in the English top flight after Arsenal and Manchester City. However, the Reds have been misfiring a lot recently, resulting in their defeats in the recently concluded Crystal Palace game and the first-leg UEFA Europa League home clash against Atalanta.
In the last five games in all competitions, Liverpool has scored only 7 goals, with five of them coming in against minnows like Sheffield United and Brighton. The most worrying issue for Jurgen Klopp is that he can not rely on any one particular figure to deliver in every game except Salah, who has racked up 17 goals to his name in the League this season.
Apart from him, the other four regular attackers have only produced 25 goals combined, which shows how poor they have been in front of goals. A champion team like Liverpool is lacking an organized attacking front that can deliver week in and week out. But, with attacks in shatters, they have limited firepower to go all the way to pip both Manchester City and Arsenal to the Premier League title.
Darwin Nunez’s struggle in front of goal
The Uruguayan international has clocked 18 goals this season across all competitions. However, this stat doesn’t serve as justification for his poor form. He alone has missed more than 21 big chances in the English top flight and squandered eight one-on-one scoring chances. A lot of big chances went begging against Atalanta at home because of his poor shots and decision-making ability.
Following the departures of Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool splashed the cash to bring Darwin Nunez from Benfica for one sole purpose: scoring goals. Nunez has been failing at that job lately, losing his composure on big occasions and leaving his compatriot Salah in a spot of bother and high pressure to score goals. The attacker is goalless in the last three matches, and there has been no improvement in his form.
Six Matches & Two Points
After 32 match weeks in the Premier League 2023-24 season, Manchester City are in the pole position with 73 points ahead of Arsenal (71) and Liverpool (71). The competitiveness the Premier League offers every term is wild, and it’s hard to believe a team such as City, who always give their best at the business end of every season, would produce a slip-up.
As things stand, Liverpool needs to win their remaining six games with a good goal difference and must wait for the Cityzens and Arsenal to drop points, which is very unlikely, given the awareness and recent forms of these teams. The Reds underestimated the gravity of the title race, and now are trailing by two points, which is almost impossible to turn into a lead in these six games.
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Remaining Fixtures
Even if Liverpool were showing consistency in their performance in the remaining games, they still would not be able to cope with the grueling fixtures lying ahead of them. The Reds are scheduled to face Atalanta in the second leg of the Europa League away from home and then Fulham, Everton, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa and Wolves in the Premier League. There are four away matches left for Liverpool in the English top flight this season, and Liverpool have already made plenty of mistakes away from home.
Before resuming their domestic title hunt, they will fly to Italy to face Atalanta. This relentless schedule will grind away at the Reds’ squad, which is already suffering from continuous injury scars. The pressure of the Europa League can also wear them down. As the matches continue to come thick and fast, it is for sure the players will be tested to their limits.
Additionally, one of their remaining six games is against Tottenham Hotspur, who defeated Liverpool in their first meeting this season and would also hope to repeat that result. Given the history of Spurs, there is a possibility of them clinching this feat in front of a packed Anfield. The table toppers Manchester City will also face the North London outfit, but they are too strong at the moment to be defeated by Spurs.
Inconsistency in starting line-up
Due to regular injury woes, Klopp made six changes to the starting line-up that featured in the Manchester United clash. Gomez and Tsimikas had last played a match together in December last year and they were handed starting spots against Atalanta surprisingly. The decision to put Elliot ahead of Salah has also backfired for the Reds.
From defense to attack, Liverpool had almost a full rotation in the squad. With a lot of changes in the squad including injury-returned players being starters, Liverpool have lost the momentum and are now struggling to stick to a clear plan. Even, Klopp talked about how he has failed to retain regular starters for the club due to a consistent injury crisis. The hapless results against Atalanta and Crystal Palace are proving to be the big reasons behind the awful performance of the Reds. Among the top three teams, Liverpool are the only ones who have made more changes to their starting line-ups than anyone.
Lack of Intensity
Since midseason, Liverpool have been licking game points consistently. Their defense has stumbled in intense games, with their attacking department misfiring miserably. This Liverpool side has claimed only one win in matches against the big boys of the Premier League (Man City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Spurs), and that too coming against the Blues, who have been underperforming for quite some time now. This stat backs the point of Liverpool being so poor in the league this term.
It looks like they don’t have in them what it takes to be champions. There’s a popular saying in the UK: “If you want to be the king in the jungle, you have to act like a king instead of pretending like one,” and the Reds are not performing like champions this season. In the 2011-12 season, Manchester City, despite being eight points behind Manchester United with six fixtures left, went all the way to win the league. It’s because they fought hard till the finish line, and got their reward. With leaky defense, scattered attack, and clueless midfield, it looks almost impossible for Liverpool to do a City this season.
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