Former Arsenal defender Lee Dixon believes Liverpool are still capable of pushing back up into the title race, but Manchester City remain the Gunners’ main title rivals.
As we prepare to return to club football following the international break, Arsenal sit four points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Manchester City are hot on their tail, only dropping points in two league games since the end of August. But reigning champions Liverpool have dropped down to eighth in the table, eight points off the league leaders.
Daily Cannon got the chance to ask Lee Dixon about the title race this week, and the former Arsenal defender suggested that Liverpool aren’t quite out of it yet.
“I don’t think Liverpool can get really much worse than they’ve started,” Dixon began. “I think there’s been a lot of pressure on them. There always is when you’re champions.
“But the way they’ve started, the signings they made in the summer, there was a lot of pressure on them. There were a lot of key signings, which created pressure to join Liverpool and play in a regular side.
“It is bad enough because it is a significant responsibility for individual players to settle in quickly. However, the fact that they were league champions was surprising in itself. We were surprised that they won the league last year, with Slot’s first season.
“It was like, wow, they’ve done extraordinarily well. So, looking again at this season and considering whether they could carry on… I think with a settled team, they might have started the season better.
“Those changes have really wobbled the group. And so they will get better. There’s no doubt about that. Defensively, they’ve been very, very poor.
“And that’s not just the back four. It’s the protection. That’s the amount of ball that they have. That’s what they do with the ball when they lose possession of it. All of those things add up to Liverpool starting really badly. However, I do feel that they will improve.”
On Arsenal, Dixon believes the Gunners’ key strength in the title race is their squad depth, but they’ll face strong competition from Manchester City.
“There’s a high-quality, deep squad,” Dixon highlighted. “And I think that’s the thing that’s maybe turned this campaign into a bit more. They’re going to win it because of that strength in depth.
“[But] there’s no doubt that Arsenal at some point will have a wobble. Every team has one, whether that’s a couple of games, one game or…
“However, the biggest challenge we all see is coming from Man City, not only because it’s Pep, but also because let’s not forget he hasn’t started the mind games yet. When they begin, it will be slightly different. But they’ve got a machine up front that we thought he couldn’t get or score as many goals as he did.
“Every time we go into a new season, he’s knocking the lights out. When you’ve got somebody like that and they rely on someone like that, he doesn’t get many injuries, so you would expect him to be like this most of the season. If he is, they’re gonna be right on Arsenal’s heels.”
This weekend could be another big one, with City travelling away to Newcastle United, Arsenal playing in the north London derby, and Liverpool with an easier game at home to Nottingham Forest.
A Liverpool win and dropped points in tricky games for the top two could easily see the race open back up again.
Thanks to OLBG for facilitating this interview between Daily Cannon and Lee Dixon.