Roy Keane has bluntly told Liverpool and their Premier League rivals to “sort themselves out” in order to challenge Manchester City for the title this season.
Jurgen Klopp’s side leapfrogged Arsenal into second place on Sunday after a swashbuckling 3-0 victory at home to Brentford, yet Keane has dismissed Liverpool’s chances. The Manchester United legend is still backing Pep Guardiola’s City to come out on top, claiming what would be a record fourth successive Premier League title, and he also criticised the overall standard of the Premier League this term. In typically ruthless fashion, Keane bemoaned on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet: “I think the standard hasn’t been great the last month or two in the Premier League. The goals being conceded, the quality, Man City are excellent but the other teams need to sort themselves out. I still can’t see beyond City, I really can’t, even if they have some sort of blip.”
Liverpool finished a huge 22 points adrift of champions City last term but now only sit one point behind them after the first 12 games of the campaign. Klopp’s attack is firing on all cylinders again but his defence is still shaky, often left unprotected by a new-look midfield which includes attack-minded stars Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Keane’s former team-mate, Gary Neville, agrees that Liverpool aren’t up to the fight this season but does believe Arsenal, last season’s runners-up, are. “I think that Arsenal can win the league this season,” Neville declared. “Starting like this, the football will come, the football that we saw from them last season will come. The fact that they’ve started a little bit slower, I never think is a bad thing, they’re sat there in the pack behind (top). I don’t think Liverpool are (capable).”
“They are the one team that’s really pushed Manchester City over these last few years. It is a new Liverpool team, but they could still be Manchester City’s biggest challengers because they’ve got players and a manager who has been there before.”
