Why Liverpool Will Not Win The English Premier League

I know Liverpool fans will dismiss this as sentiments of a sore Arsenal fan, who is not happy that Liverpool, unlike my beloved Arsenal, has a chance to win the Premier League.

Truth is, despite being a gooner through and through, I can give an objective analysis and back up my assertions with facts as I see them, and I have followed the EPL for far too long to know with absolute certainty that Liverpool will not go the distance.

I watched Liverpool labour to break down West Ham on Monday night and their shortcomings were so apparent. The biggest of them is the over-reliance on the trio of Salah/Mane/Firmino, which makes their style of play so predictable.

There is no denying that the three form one of the most lethal attacks in the league with a combined 36 goals so far this season. When on song, the three musketeers can rip holes in any defence in the world.

To win the league a team needs a combination of three factors: have a lethal attack, a mixture of steel and creativity in the midfield and a rock solid defence. Liverpool only check the attack box.

Read: Opinion: Mourinho Is Getting Sacked In The Morning After Arsenal Clash

As Sir Alex Ferguson once said “Attack wins you games, defence wins you titles”. Liverpool have one decent defender in Virgil Van Dyke whose CB pairing Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip are nowhere near the Dutch level.

Every single team that has won the leaguea had a legendary centre-back pairing- Sol Campbell/Kolo Toure of the Arsenal invincibles era, Vidic/Ferdinand who conceded just 22 goals all-season as Man United won the league in 2007-08, John Terry/Ricardo Carvalho of Chelsea’s title winning side of 2004-05 season, even Leicester fairytale of 2015-16 was partly down to a season of wonder from captain Wes Morgan and Robert Huth.

 Liverpool have exciting young fullbacks Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who though have performed beyond football world’s expectation, cannot perform at the top level consistently for 38 games.

In midfield Fabinho hasn’t lived up to expectations and is not as reliable, same can be said of Naby Keita was arrived with promise to light up the Premier League after excelling in Germany with RB Leipzig.

Manchester City’s victory over Everton on Wednesday took them top of the league, albeit with a game in hand which is quite impressive having been trailing Liverpool by 10 points in December.

In this two horse race (we all know flower girls Tottenham Hotspurs are perennial bottlers) City have an advantage over the reds- a depth that no other team can match, Pep Guardiola’s football brain and an experience in winning titles.

Klopp looks like a nice guy and to his credit, he has assembled a decent team which many neutrals would love to see lift the EPL title at the end of the season. But as much as I despise Manchester City and their oil-millions-bankrolled success, it looks certain that the title is heading back there for the second season running.