‘I would never count out Liverpool’ - former Tottenham and Aston Villa star says Reds are still in title race

Liverpool realistically need a win over Manchester City this weekend to keep alive any remaining hopes of a Premier League title challenge.

Defeat for Jurgen Klopp’s side would see them fall 16 points behind the reigning champions and potentially even further behind current leaders Arsenal. However, a win would shorten the gap between last season’s top two to ten points with the Reds having a game in hand over Pep Guardiola’s side. Even at this early stage of the season it feels like a big ask for Liverpool to mount a serious tilt at the trophy but one former Premier League star says you can never rule them out.

Brad Friedel made 450 top flight games in English football for several clubs including the Anfield outfit as well as Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. The American keeper believes that the squad of players available to Jurgen Klopp means they will always be a threat.

in an interview with OnlineCasino, he said: “I would never count out Liverpool of the title race, just with the squad that they have. I think two of their players look mentally tired to me–Salah and Van Dijk–which are two of their huge players. I actually don’t worry about Liverpool. I grew up as a Liverpool supporter. Jürgen Klopp and his staff are fantastic. The squad he has put together is fantastic. For me, they are going to finish in the top four no matter what.

“If they don’t challenge for the title, I think he will get it right and challenge for the title next year. I don’t think there is any room for error from now until the end of the season: they can’t drop more points. But I still think they have the right guy in charge, so I don’t think there should be any added pressure heaped on him. They are obviously not getting results right now, but I agree I do not think they played poorly against Arsenal.”

The former head coach of MLS side New England Revolution also believes that potentially missing out on next season’s Champions League would be a ‘catastrohpic blow’ for his old club. He said: “Liverpool has done a really good job off the field with their marketing. It wasn’t always the way: Manchester United went way ahead of them at one stage a couple of decades ago. If they don’t qualify for the Champions League, yes, it will dent their revenues, because they won’t get the television and some sponsorship revenues, nor will they be getting the match day revenues. Would it be catastrophic to miss out one year? I don’t think so.

“The people that they have behind the scenes are pretty astute. If you look at the way they run Liverpool, you don’t really see or hear about them, and they run the business impeccably well. They have one of the world’s greatest managers and one of the greatest squads, and off the field they are becoming a marketing machine. It is a blow to any of these top teams if they don’t finish in the Champions League. If they miss out three, four, five years in a row, then yeah, it will become an issue.”