THIS IS NOW LIVERPOOL’S TIME... CITY HAVE BECOME THE UNDERDOGS

Guardiola losing Laporte is the same as Klopp losing Van Dijk... it’s a huge blow

EVEN when Manchester City were trailing Liverpool by 10 points last December, deep down the majority of us thought that Pep Guardiola’s side remained favourites to be crowned champions of England.

That’s changed. Jurgen Klopp’s men are no longer the underdogs. They are now the frontrunners for the Premier League title. They conquered Europe, now they want to rule in their own back garden.

City are wounded. They have lost Aymeric Laporte, and that is the equivalent of taking Virgil van Dijk out of the Liverpool team.

I was at Carrow Road on Saturday to see City line up for the first time since Laporte suffered his unfortunate injury and their defensive frailties were exposed. Sunday League players would be embarrassed to make the same mistakes Nicolas Otamendi made against Norwich.

for Liverpool, everything seems to be falling into place. They will not read too much into a five-point lead in mid-September but it feels like the momentum has shifted.

It helps to have a fortress like Anfield. The last time Liverpool lost at home was to Crystal Palace in April 2017 — 43 games ago. That is the longest active streak in Europe’s elite leagues, with Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain closest on 22.

It is also the second-longest streak the Premier League has seen, beaten only by Chelsea’s run of 86 games at Stamford Bridge from 2004 to 2008.

Can they trouble that record? I don’t see Liverpool’s run ending any time soon. Newcastle took the lead on Saturday but that was a blip. That only made the hosts more angry, and they duly went on to wipe the floor with the visitors.

In the Eighties, away teams at Anfield would seem to know their fate before a ball is even kicked. They’d know they would struggle to get a sniff. If you won a corner in front of the Kop, you might as well have done a lap of honour.

I sense that aura is on its way back. It feels like Liverpool are in the thick of a golden era again. No disrespect to Newcastle, but Steve Bruce will have left Anfield thinking a 3-1 defeat isn’t the worst result.

Other sides will go to that stadium this season hoping they can simply avoid a mauling, too.

Klopp knows Liverpool won’t win the Premier League by default. Guardiola, even without Laporte, will want to push them all the way.

But this is Liverpool’s time. This is their chance to make history. They have the team, and they have the manager. It may depend on how they handle the sudden pressure of being favourites for the title.