United, City out of the title race
> Carragher believes both teams are too far behind Chelsea to challenge for the title
JAMIE CARRAGHER doesn’t believe either Manchester City or Manchester United can win the title.
The former Liverpool defender believes just four clubs are left in the running for the title following the weekend’s results, which saw United draw 1-1 with Liverpool and City suffer a humiliating 40 defeat by Everton that came as manager Pep Guardiola’s heaviest loss of his career in the dugout.
With City 10 points off Premier League leaders Chelsea, and United a further two points behind, Carragher feels that neither Manchester club can win the title anymore even though early-season predictions saw the pair tipped for a two-horse race. “I think four (teams can win it),” Carragher said on Monday Night Football on Sky Sports 1. “I don’t think the Manchester clubs can. I think two or three games into the season we felt they were the two who would battle for the League. “They’re 10 and 12 points behind. City have still got to go to Chelsea. Goal difference is almost double for Chelsea, which is an extra point, so I only see Arsenal and above who can win the title.”
City’s season could get even worse this weekend as they face Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium, the side who inflicted Guardiola’s first defeat as City manager back in October following a 11-match unbeaten run.
Since the 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane, City have won just nine out of 22 matches in all competitions and the weekend loss at Everton even brought the same admission out of Guardiola that City are no longer able to challenge for the title.
United aren’t so pessimistic though, and after embarking on a 16-match unbeaten run of their own, striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic talked up their chances of closing the gap on the teams above them. “Imagine if we’d got those (extra) points (earlier in the season), where we’d be now?” Ibrahimovic said. “It’d be a big difference. But, okay, we’re paying for it. We had a gap where there was a distance to the top five but now we’re closer. “From second to us is five points, Chelsea is 12. We are there, we just wait for the other ones to do mistakes. “If we could have won against Liverpool it’d have been a fantastic result but we take the draw and let’s see what the other teams do. “Hopefully they make mistakes and have their own dip because we had our dips. We just need to win and keep going like we’re doing, we’ve got great confidence.” – The Independent