City in pole position to claim title
MANCHESTER City, Liverpool and Chelsea looked set for a titanic threeway Premier League title tussle just over two weeks ago but it is now beginning to look like a one-horse race.
The three clubs were separated by just two points before matches kicked off on December 14. Fast forward to the end of the month and City are now eight points clear of secondplaced Chelsea.
Pep Guardiola’s men were not at their best at Brentford on Wednesday but did enough to win 1-0 on an evening when injury-hit Chelsea conceded a last-gasp equaliser at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.
Liverpool lost ground the previous day, beaten by a feisty and committed Leicester City side after Mohamed Salah failed to convert a first-half penalty.
Here are some of the key factors in the title race heading into the new year.
Points gap: Champions City could streak 11 points clear if they beat fourth-placed Arsenal on Saturday, with Chelsea and Liverpool meeting at Stamford Bridge the following day.
They are already overwhelming favourites to lift a fourth Premier League crown in five years and a double-digit lead even in early January could prove too much for their rivals.
Guardiola, predictably, is refusing to accept the title race is over, hailing the quality of City’s challengers.
“There are many games to go,” he said. “We are eight points in front but there are 54 still to play for and many tough games still to play.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted after his side’s 1-0 defeat at Leicester City that Liverpool could forget about catching City unless it upped its game.
Sunday’s match at Stamford Bridge is surely a must-win now if either side is to have any chance of catching City.
Injuries and Covid: Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is struggling to cope with the toll on his squad from injury and coronavirus and admits he will use “trial and error” to pick his team to face Liverpool.
Wing-back Reece James hobbled off against Brighton with a hamstring strain a day after the club confirmed Ben Chilwell needed knee surgery, which has now taken place.
The European champion will sweat on Thiago Silva’s thigh issue and Andreas Christensen’s back problem – but also on players still suffering the effects of
Covid-19, including Timo Werner.
Klopp has also been forced to juggle in recent weeks, with coronavirus depriving him of a clutch of players.
Pep Guardiola, by contrast, has relatively minor concerns.
Africa Cup of Nations: Klopp faces a looming headache with the Premier League’s leading scorer Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita all heading to the Africa Cup of Nations, which starts early next month.
Most of the goalscoring burden will fall on Diogo Jota – the league’s second-highest scorer with 10 – but other forwards will have to step up and the defence must tighten up after just one clean sheet in four league matches.
Chelsea will be without firstchoice goalkeeper Edouard Mendy but midfielder Hakim Ziyech was left out of Morocco’s preliminary Africa Cup of Nations squad. Guardiola will only lose Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez.