Pundit Janusz Michallik believes Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won’t have worries about Arsenal and Mikel Arteta and Arsenal in the title race, but will not want to be going head-to-head with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
City are currently second in the Premier League table, having gotten back on track after some poor results prior to the Club World Cup.
But Liverpool sit top at the moment, five points clear of City, who have a game in hand.
It is shaping up to be a really interesting title race, with just five points currently separating the top four.
For many, Pep Guardiola‘s City are still the favourite for the league – but Michallik believes Liverpool are City’s biggest threat, not Arsenal.
Janusz Michallik believes Pep Guardiola is fearful of Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool
Guardiola and City are gunning to make history at the end of this season.
No club has ever won the Premier League four times in a row, and it will be an extraordinary achievement if City can manage it. With Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland back in the picture, few are putting it past them.
At the moment, the top four consists of Liverpool, City, Arsenal and Aston Villa, but most don’t think Unai Emery’s side will be there come the end of the season.
Last term, City chased Arsenal down and surpassed them at the end, and the season before, City beat Liverpool by just one point after a sensational run of results.
But the Reds did win the title in the 2019/20 season, and Michallik believes Klopp’s experience means Guardiola won’t want to be going head-to-head with his £307,000-a-week rival in the final weeks of the season.
He said on ESPN UK: “I absolutely think that Liverpool are capable. Pep Guardiola, if there’s one manager he doesn’t want to go head-to-head with, it’s not Mikel Arteta, because he knows him inside out. With Klopp, he’ll have an issue.
“They’ve been there, they’ve done that. They’re absolutely capable.”
Michallik’s comments come after former Chelsea defender John Terry insisted City would be very difficult to catch in terms of other clubs trying to become a dominant force.
Liverpool are a huge threat
There is no question about it, Liverpool are a huge threat to City’s hopes of securing a fourth straight Premier League title.
In the first half of the season, they have almost gone under the radar a little bit, even though they are top now.
The focus has mainly been on City and their slip-ups, and Arsenal who were top for several weeks.
But Liverpool have just been extremely consistent and look strong in all areas. They overhauled their midfield in the summer, and they have certainly looked strong at the back with Alisson Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
They are surely more of a threat to City than Arsenal, given they’ve actually won a league title fairly recently.
Michallik is probably right – Pep won’t really want to get to May with Liverpool still in the fight, so hopefully City can put together a long run and hope other clubs can prove to be banana skins for Liverpool.
