Irish journalist Kieran Cunningham joined Football Saturday to discuss Manchester City and Liverpool.
By most measures, Liverpool and Chelsea are having great seasons.
Unfortunately, by Manchester City's measure, Liverpool and Chelsea are having bad seasons. Pep Guardiola's side are 11 points clear ahead of tomorrow's meeting between their closest rivals. Jurgen Klopp will miss the game, as will a number of key players for Liverpool due to Covid.
Meanwhile, City came through a tough challenge away to Arsenal thanks to a last-minute winner. They won 2-1 on Saturday.
It's that relentless consistency that has defined Pep Guardiola's sides. He built one in Barcelona, he developed another in Bayern Munich and now after so many big-name signings, he has taken over England too. The Premier League title race is over.
Kieran Cunningham believes Liverpool have masked Manchester City's dominance. But he also believes that not likely to continue moving forward.
"In the Guardiola era, Liverpool have kept City honest," Cunningham said.
"Other than that they'd be as dominant in England as Bayern Munich are in Germany. Jurgen Klopp touched on this yesterday. He said Liverpool need a perfect season to have any chance of catching City. And that's a problem. Liverpool lost to Leicester and it was their second defeat of the season, their second defeat since last March."
Manchester City are on pace to eclipse 95 points in the league this year. Only three teams have ever eclipsed 95 points in a Premier League season. Liverpool and Manchester City as champions, and Liverpool as runners-up in recent years. The standard has elevated to an unimaginable level.
Liverpool are having a great season, but they're not contenders now.
"They've been outstanding in a lot of games, such as winning 5-0 at Old Trafford. But every Liverpool fan genuinely knew watching that [defeat to Leicester] that it was over. They weren't going to win the league. Even though half the season has been played. And that's because City have changed the game.
"Liverpool a couple of seasons ago lost won game with 97 points and still weren't able to win it. Roy Keane's first season at United, they lost five games. Alex Ferguson's last title at United, they lost five games.
"You lose five games now, there's not a hope of winning the title."
One January transfer for each Premier League team
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