Jurgen Klopp believes the race for the Premier League title will be extremely competitive this season and has namechecked the sides he thinks will be involved.
The Reds were far from their best at Sheffield United on Wednesday night, but still ran out 2-0 winners to put daylight between themselves and Man City at the top end of the table.
Liverpool remain two points behind leaders Arsenal, but the race looks to have been blown wide open after Pep Guardiola’s side dropped points for their fourth game in a row away to Aston Villa – their worst league run since 2017.
Klopp dismissed title talk during his pre-match press conference earlier in the week, insisting it was still “too early” to have such conversations.
He echoed those sentiments after the contest, but went on to name several clubs he feels are capable of mounting challenges of their own between now and May.
“If somebody would write City off that would be the biggest joke in the history of football,” the Liverpool boss told the media after his side’s victory.
“Arsenal are fighting and had a similar experience we had [against Fulham]. It feels really good, but anyway, you have to start the next game from 0-0.
“Aston Villa is incredible. United is there, don’t play yet maybe exactly the football whoever wants, the media or whatever, but they have points like crazy.
“Chelsea, I’m not sure if they’re coming. The league is incredibly strong, you need to be lucky to get through difficult moments, with injuries especially. So I have no clue.
“Probably it was the last years, always two. I’m not interested in that, so long as we’re around there. But it’s so difficult and intense. Ask me again in April.”
The Reds have become accustomed to tussling with Man City for the league title in recent seasons, capturing it with record-breaking speed in 2019/20 and taking the race to the final day on three other occasions in the last decade.
It feels farfetched to imagine Erik ten Hag’s side posing a threat at the top, but it is clear that the boss is taking the competition seriously as we close in on the midway point of the campaign.
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