Liverpool’s win at Bournemouth was a great football result. It was a potential “banana skin”. Without Mohamed Salah, without Trent Alexander-Arnold, you saw Bournemouth beat Newcastle and then go to Manchester United and win.
There is a time when you have to play with teams, and this was not the time to play with Bournemouth. Liverpool came away from that game with honours.
I always said that Liverpool would be there at the end of the season. They have a huge number of strikers – five, in fact – and they all score goals. Darwin Nunez wastes a lot of chances – I prefer a striker who wastes a lot of chances to a striker who looks like he is never going to score any goals.
Luis Diaz, Nunez, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota – apart from Salah, there’s not many of them. So they always have someone – that’s a big advantage for them.
If you take Erling Haaland out of the Man City attack, the attack is weaker because there is no one to replace him with. Yes, they have Julian Alvarez, who is a good player and will do the job, but he is not Haaland.
I will not say that Liverpool are the favourites for the title. City can only keep winning, winning and winning. They can easily play 10 games without defeat. Look at them now, they have won eight of their last nine games [in all competitions].
Their squad is just too big. Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne have been absent since the start of the season, but they are still there.
The difference between City, Liverpool and Arsenal is that City can have ten wins in a row and nobody will pay attention to them. If Liverpool and Arsenal do it, that is a big thing.
And for Liverpool, in a week in the title race, it could be all over. They play Chelsea at home – you don’t know which Chelsea will turn up on the pitch. They can play, so it is a tough game.
Then they are away to Arsenal, and if it goes like the FA Cup game, Arsenal will win. Before you know it, it’s all over for Liverpool.
I think Arsenal are still in the title race. They got a big result a few days ago and they are still there and there, so they have to be included in the equation.
But Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah between them won’t score as many goals as Salah – and that’s on the right wing. That’s a huge advantage for Liverpool, who will be in it for a long time if they continue to play as they are now.
Man City will take the FA Cup game at Spurs seriously:
Man City have yet to score at Tottenham’s new stadium, so they will take the game very seriously. It’s not the best place for them, so they want to break the hoodoo.
They also have to visit Tottenham later in the Premier League season, so if City lose this time – 1-0 or 2-0 – it will be a psychological problem for them.
If Tottenham win, it will open up the FA Cup for them. They will have beaten the team they need to beat to win the FA Cup.
It is an important game, not only for Tottenham, but for everyone else in the FA Cup.
Timo Werner could make his home debut for the Spurs on this day. In the Man Utd game it was difficult for him on his debut, he ran through a lot and missed the target a couple of times.
I think he was a good signing for Tottenham. In fact, I think if he hadn’t played for Chelsea in the past, Chelsea would have bought him this January. That would have suited them – he is skilful and he can score goals.
The only thing that bothered him about Chelsea was that he was constantly running offside. It was amazing how many times he did that. When you play that fast, you don’t need to be on the back shoulder of the defender.