Jamie Carragher on the title race: “I think Man City will win the league, don’t see Liverpool or Chelsea cutting that gap”

This weekend, the top 4 teams played two very important games against each other. The matches turned out to be very thrilling and controversial, and football critics are already making bold predictions for the title winner as Man City gained monstrous 10 point lead over Chelsea and Liverpool.

Arsenal produced a superb game at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday: in fact, Pep Guardiola’s former assistant, Mikel Arteta, became one of very few this season to outplay Manchester City.

The Reds looked very decent, managing to open the scoring in the match – but further controversial and questionable decisions by the refereeing crew perhaps broke the match. A misjudged penalty pen after Ederson‘s foul on Martin Odergaard, a controversially awarded penalty after Bernardo Silva’s dive, illogical decisions on other occasions (one of which led to Gabriel‘s sending-off).

All these decisions by the head referee are a separate topic. But what we end up with is not quite a fair three points for the Citizens. Yes, the will to win cannot be taken away from the Skyblues here as Rodri scored in injury time after a ‘last-hope’ cross into the box and a serie of bounces. And you can’t deny a certain amount of luck in that win – sometimes it’s very much needed.
 

Now, the Citizens are already making their closest rivals lose faith in lifting the trophy at the end of the season.

Sunday’s meeting at Stamford Bridge offered Chelsea and Liverpool a chance to become major contenders for the City crown, but neither took advantage of the opportunity as a thrilling 2-2 draw only strengthened their title defence. Such a result now gives the champions a 10-point lead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWXisCP3p8A

Jamie Carragher has commented that no one can now catch Manchester City in the race for the Premier League title: 

“I think Manchester City will win the league, I don’t see Liverpool or Chelsea cutting that gap.”

– he started.

“If Liverpool had won [at Chelsea] and got the extra two points, and if they won their game in hand against Leeds, as you would expect them to do, then the gap to City would be six points, which would be very tough. Once it goes more than that, and you need three games to catch up on Manchester City, I just don’t see it at all. Liverpool have been good going forward this season, Chelsea have been good defensively, but Manchester City are as good as both of them in those areas, and in terms of controlling games. That’s the big difference.” the former Liverpool player reflected.

His interlocutor, Gary Neville, agreed, adding several points to the Englishman:

“I think back to a month ago, we were talking about a three-horse race. I’m not saying we haven’t still got a three-horse race, but it’s certainly not in the forefront of my mind as it was a month ago. You thought these three would go neck and neck, right to the end, but I’m not quite thinking that today.

“I look at Manchester City, there are a unique team, we’ve never seen anything like them in this country. The way in which they play football and dominate the game. They weren’t the best at Arsenal, but they won. Over the last four weeks, City have been outstanding.”

“City have a strong squad, a great manager, a unique way of playing that demoralises teams. It will be very difficult to make the 10 points because they very rarely make mistakes, you’ve got to be neck and neck with them. It’s a big ask for Chelsea and Liverpool to catch them.”

• Things could get even more depressing for Chelsea after a short break as they travel to the Etihad Arena on Saturday 15th January, a clash against fearsome Manchester City.
• Another interesting match, the London Derby, awaits us on January 16 as Arsenal prepare to fight their arch-rival Tottenham. Don`t miss out.