'Mightily impressive...' - Chris Sutton and Andros Townsend on Liverpool's title chances

Former Premier League duo Chris Sutton and Andros Townsend have agreed on Liverpool’s title chances this season.

The Reds sit top after eight games with seven wins and one sole defeat, one point ahead of rivals Manchester City and four ahead of Arsenal. Last season saw them top the table at Christmas with a squad that closely resembles what we see this season and Arne Slot has been hailed by the masses for his start to life as Liverpool boss.

Beating Chelsea at the weekend was another step in the right direction as Enzo Maresca’s side appeared to be much-improved in a big game, pushing Liverpool all the way. The attention now turns to a tough period that includes games almost every three days until the November international break, with Aston Villa, Brighton and Arsenal all to come - yet they look well-placed to be successful.

Speaking on the Monday Night Club (BBC 5Live’s football podcast), Townsend and Sutton both agreed Liverpool are contenders to win the title while the New York Times journalist Rory Smith held his reservations in the discussion. “Results haven’t dropped off which is a surprise to everyone when you have a successful manager like Klopp walk away, you expect a drop off in standards and performances, but it hasn’t happened so far,” Townsend claimed. “There’s no doubt about that, they are bang in this title race.”

Sutton then responded, “Under Klopp, they were always confident in the squad that they had and that they could push for major honours and I don’t think much has changed other than the manager. They’ve started strongly but they are not going to start shouting their mouths off about the title and they’ll keep working and see where they are in the new year. They are in a title race and they have been mightily impressive under the new manager.”

In rebuttal, Smith said, “I do think they are title contenders, but we are not even a quarter a way through the season so it is very early. I’m waiting for more games to be played; their run of games from now until Christmas is noticeably more difficult. There’s a possibility that they are 4th after those run of fixtures so he won’t want to get to Christmas and suddenly have this massive drop-off so I can see why Slot has wanted to temper expectations.”

Next up is six games in just 17 days as they face RB Leipzig in the Champions League (A), Arsenal (A), Brighton in the EFL Cup (A) Brighton (H) Bayer Leverkusen (H) and Aston Villa (H) across that period - one which is likely to place continued and added pressure on their side, far more captured in the run prior.