Focus will return to matters in the Premier League this weekend as Liverpool take on Manchester United.
With the January transfer window open, there has been plenty of distraction since the Reds last played.
But as talk continues over Trent Alexander-Arnold’s potential move to Real Madrid, a big game on Sunday will be an ample way for Liverpool fans to get back to the football itself.
It’s a big occasion as well. Man United may be in terrible form under Ruben Amorim, but they are always a dangerous beast at Anfield.
United came to Merseyside and got a point during a similarly tough period last season and Liverpool should not be taking their arch rivals lightly at all.
Any kind of result for United would offer big encouragement to Liverpool’s Premier League title rivals. But according to Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, slip or no slip, City are no competition for the Reds this season.
Bernardo Silva writes off Man City
Silva has been a real adversary for Liverpool during his years at Man City.
The Portuguese schemer was notoriously the only City player not to clap during Liverpool’s guard of honour at the Etihad Stadium after winning the league in 2020.
Silva and Liverpool fans have battled online at times as well, with the 30-year-old letting it be known that he is certainly no fan of the Reds.
However, speaking to Sky Sports Premier League on Thursday, even he has had to concede that Liverpool are on a different plane to City this term
Right now it’s about accepting the reality,” Silva says.
“I’m not looking at Liverpool from sixth or seventh in the league. I cannot be looking at Liverpool or Arsenal or whatever. I’m looking at the next game to try and win three points.”
“Right now I would say, not impossible because in football there are no impossibles, but right now Man City are completely out of the title race, there’s no question about that. It’s too late for us,” he adds.
“People always say that you don’t win the league in January, but you can lose it and this season the reality is we’ve lost it.”
Who have Man City got this weekend?
Despite what Silva says, there will be plenty of Liverpool supporters who will still be glancing nervously towards City in the Premier League table.
Pep Guardiola’s team are currently in sixth place, fourteen points behind Liverpool having played a game more. But past seasons have simply scarred the psyche that much.
All of the Reds’ rivals will have circled their game against United this weekend as one in which Liverpool could drop points. It’s vital they do not.
In the meantime, City face West Ham at the Etihad. Given how poor the Hammers looked against Liverpool last Sunday, there seems little prospect of Silva and co failing to win that one.
Arsenal, meanwhile, face an altogether trickier task away at Brighton.
Nobody is quite out of it just yet, we’d argue. But Liverpool have it in their hands to change that week on week and that is a hugely positive thing.
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