Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is working off the assumption that Arsenal and Liverpool will scarcely drop any more points this season and tipped an unnamed alternative team as a Premier League title contender.
Liverpool’s defence of their top-flight crown is already hanging by a thread. Arne Slot’s side suffered their fourth league defeat of the season on Saturday evening, as many as they recorded across the entirety of their triumphant 2024–25 campaign.
Arsenal lead the division after dropping points in just two of their opening eight games, which just so happened to be against Liverpool (1–0 defeat) and City (1–1), but don’t appear to have quite the same imperious edge as league champions of years gone by.
After City and Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool routinely chased after near perfection, Slot’s Reds were able to lift the title with a relatively meagre 84 points—the lowest tally for a Premier League champion since Leicester City’s fairytale campaign in 2015–16.
However, after a summer of extensive investment across the division, Guardiola is predicting a return to the heights of the recent past. “In the Premier League, I have the feeling now that Arsenal is not going to drop much points. So that is the reality. I have that feeling with Arsenal, with Liverpool as well,” the Catalan coach told assembled media ahead of his side’s trip to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Guardiola would not be swayed by Liverpool’s recent dip. “Now Liverpool lost their last games—not in the Champions League in Frankfurt—but I saw the game against [Manchester] United, they had incredible chances to win the game,” he warned.
“So I think Liverpool remain one of the main favourites to do that. And the distance, three, four points at this stage is nothing.
“I always had the feeling that both teams and maybe another one, they will lose few, few points. That’s why we have to be there.”
That “another one” Guardiola hinted at presumably was Chelsea, who subsequently did their best to scrub off their title credentials with a 2–1 defeat to newly promoted Sunderland.
Guardiola: Man City ‘Can Be There’
When the question of title aspirations was turned on Guardiola, it was initially met with a wave of sarcasm. “Well, in the first two games, three games, yeah for sure we [City] are out,” he sniffed. “And Liverpool is already done, and now it looks like Liverpool is done.”
However, Guardiola was quick to add: “And I’ll tell you that they will be back.”
The six-time Premier League champion didn’t miss the chance to take aim at his critics before briefly dropping the veil of scorn to offer a tentative declaration of intent. “I’ve said many times, I know all the pundits, all the specialists or former players, they know everything that is going to happen after five games, I’m not able to do that. So, always I wait for 10, 15 games to know exactly what is going on.
“But I think obviously Liverpool and Arsenal are there, someone else will be there, hopefully we can be there.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pep Guardiola Delivers Sweeping Arsenal, Liverpool Premier League Title Verdict.
