Chris Wilder reveals who he wants to win the Premier League title out of Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City

Chris Wilder was magnanimous when delivering his post-match verdict sitting in the Anfield press room.

The Sheffield United boss knew that his side had been written off ahead of their clash against Liverpool. He was wary that the Premier League’s basement side destined for relegation were supposed to be lambs to the slaughter against the team challenging for the title.

Indeed, the Blades were blunted on Merseyside. They suffered a 3-1 defeat yet the encounter did not follow the script. Jurgen Klopp’s side scarcely enjoyed a comfortable evening. United displayed resolve and steel that pushed Liverpool throughout the contest. As Wilder described it, Liverpool settled matters via a world-class strike from a World Cup winner in Alexis Mac Allister.

“The narrative in the presser before and even the interviews before the game, you can sense that we're just here to make the numbers up and the narrative was a comfortable evening for Liverpool,” Wilder told reporters in his post-match press conference.

"That's not our emotion, our emotion is to do well individually and collectively and for our football club. Be competitive. We knew how the game was going to go, we knew we had to give up the ball and that they had players who could hurt us and we had to suffer.

"You have to go through those periods, stay in the game and take it deep. Ride your luck and hopefully things fall for you and it becomes a night where you can get something from the game. Unfortunately, we come up, especially late on with the amount of late goals they've scored and a world-class finish from a World Cup winner. You're trying to chase it and they get three and it's done and dusted.”

Wilder spoke candidly and with dignity despite sliding closer to relegation. The United boss will no doubt be pragmatic having arrived back at Bramall Lane in December and plans for the Championship next season will likely be afoot behind the scenes.

And while he’ll be praying the Blades can pull off a miracle to stay up, he also wishes that Liverpool can win the title over Arsenal and Manchester City. The Reds moved back to the summit of the table with a victory and their ambitions are firmly in their own hands with eight matches remaining. Arsenal are two points behind with City a further point adrift - with an exciting finale to the campaign in the offing.

According to several reporters who were in the mixed zone at Anfield as Wilder was leaving the stadium to get on the United team coach, he revealed he wants the Reds to claim the silverware in Klopp’s final season before departing. Per The Atheltic’s James Pearce, Wilder told a club employee: “I hope you win it, I mean that.” This Is Anfield’s Dave Lynch also posted on X (formerly Twitter): "I hope you go on and win it, I really do."

Liverpool return to action when they travel to bitter rivals Manchester United on Sunday. They could find themselves knocked off the summit again, though, with Arsenal facing Brighton a day prior while Manchester City make the trip to Crystal Palace.