Reds, City set to dominate again
PREMIER LEAGUE: KLOPP, PEP HAVE A WINNING FORMULA
Sheffield United will not be overawed, says manager Wilder.
Liverpool and Manchester City are again threatening to streak clear in the Premier League title race with their main challengers looking ill-equipped to keep up.
Both teams were irresistible last season, with runners-up Liverpool finishing 25 points ahead of third-placed Chelsea, and they look a class apart again.
The two front-runners will each expect to win this weekend despite being on their travels as Liverpool go to Sheffield United and City visit Everton.
Leicester, Arsenal and West Ham are their closest challengers and early leaders in the fight for the final two Champions League places.
Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United, all of whom have struggled, are under pressure to get back on track on home soil.
City showed no mercy against Watford last weekend, hammering the Hornets 8-0 in a staggering display of dominance.
Yet Pep Guardiola’s men could find themselves eight points behind in the title race come kickoff at Goodison Park today should Liverpool maintain their relentless run.
Juergen Klopp’s side have the chance to win their 16th consecutive Premier League game in the early kick-off in Sheffield.
Liverpool have not lost in the league to a side outside the “Big Six” since January 2018.
But Blades boss Chris Wilder is demanding his players are not star-struck.
“I don’t want the players speaking to their players before, ‘can I swap shirts and any chance of signing this?’ And they won’t,” said Wilder.
Spurs fluffed another chance of a first trophy under Mauricio Pochettino in midweek, with an embarrassing third-round League Cup defeat by fourth-tier Colchester on penalties.
Spurs have won just two of their opening eight games in all competitions and four of their past 17 dating back to last season.
With Bayern Munich to visit on Tuesday in the Champions League, that record threatens to get even worse unless Pochettino can get a response from his stale-looking side at home to Southampton today.
But a relaxed Pochettino said there was a fine line between success and failure, pointing to the disallowed goal at Leicester last week, which stopped them going 2-0 up in a game they lost 2-1.
“I become more relaxed in these tough moments because in the end it’s only one result,” he said.
Chelsea fared far better in the League Cup as a 7-1 rout of Grimsby handed Frank Lampard his first victory in charge at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are at the start of a new era and there were encouraging signs for Lampard in last weekend’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool.
Brighton’s visit to the Bridge also starts an enticing run of fixtures for Chelsea to haul themselves back into the top four, with Southampton, Newcastle, Burnley, Watford and Crystal Palace to come.
United also narrowly avoided a League Cup shock by beating League One Rochdale on penalties, but the Red Devils’ lack of goalscoring threat was again exposed. – v Arsenal.