Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN - 7M sport

Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN

MANCHESTER CITY are so scary right now they’ve almost got a Mike Tyson aura about them.


Posted Saturday, December 08, 2018 by Dailystar.co.uk

Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN
Paul Merson reckons Manchester City have won the Premier League title

Pep Guardiola’s boys don’t need to trash-talk any of their title rivals – they know they’ve got the power to deliver the knockout blow.

While the rest of the contenders trade punches with each other hoping for a title shot, City stand menacingly over them as the undisputed kings.

For me, the title race is over and normally anyone saying that one week into December with City just two points clear of Liverpool would be accused of losing his marbles.

But, I honestly can’t see any other outcome. And, here’s another thing, I wouldn’t be in the least surprised to see them stay unbeaten all season either.

If they did that, then it’s an achievement that would even surpass that of the Arsenal ‘Invincibles’ because the Premier League just gets stronger and stronger every season.

City play Chelsea today and I heard Maurizio Sarri say he was worried after their shock 2-1 defeat at Wolves. Trust me, he should be.

Three weeks ago, there was hardly anything in it. Now, defeats to Tottenham and Wolves, leave Chelsea with no option but to beat Pep’s boys at the weekend.

If they lose it, then the points difference would be 13 and there’s no way they are going to claw that back.

Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN
Pep Guardiola's side have a two-point lead on Liverpool

City look unstoppable at home and away from home they have already won at Arsenal and Spurs and drawn at Liverpool.

You just can’t see any way back – the impact of the Wolves defeat is just massive in terms of points and the psychological blow inflicted.

It’s all ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ but had Chelsea beaten Wolves – which they should have done – the gap would have been seven points.

That would have meant a Chelsea victory against City tonight would have cut the gap between the two clubs to a mere four and it would be all to play for.

Now it’s an entirely different story and that’s because City aren’t losing to the teams outside of the elite group, while others like Chelsea are.

I watched Pep’s stars play Bournemouth. Eddie Howe’s men couldn’t have played any better but still lost.

Then they had a hard game away at Watford and rested half their team. They still got the job done.

City have just two potential hurdles – the Stamford Bridge game being one of them. The other is Manchester United away – and I can’t see them losing either.

Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have little room for error

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp went crackers after the last minute winner against Everton. That’s because he knew how important it was to stay on City’s heels.

Sarri said he thought City were the best team in Europe and probably the best in the world right now.

He has a point, but only to a point. For me, City need to lift the Champions League to be considered that.

Their results in Europe haven’t been great and that’s something they need to rectify to be considered the best.

On paper they are, but without the Champions League trophy in the cabinet, it’s hard to justify such a massive statement.

The league might not be a major distraction this time around because it could have been put to bed by the time the Champions League gets serious.

For me, only Liverpool have a prayer of catching them and they’ll need to pray very hard.

The other three or four contenders are really in a race to finish in the top four.

Premier League title race is over: Liverpool, Chelsea will not win it - PAUL MERSON COLUMN
Chelsea are 10 points behind Manchester City

EVERYONE seems really surprised that Burnley have dropped like a stone this season – I’m not.

The Turf Moor faithful might not like to hear this, but Burnley, basically, are a bottom-eight club.

Sean Dyche and his men shouldn’t be judged on their incredible seventh-place finish last time around.

Last season was, quite simply, unreal and should be put on one side as a remarkable achievement and not a stick to beat them with now things aren’t going so well.

If it’s any consolation, I don’t happen to think they’ll go down. I’d actually be shocked if they took the drop even though the Burnley we’re seeing right now isn’t the Burnley of last season.

What’s happened to them is a bit like what can happen in the tennis rankings. You win a tournament and suddenly you shoot up the rankings.

That’s great, but the reality is that to stay there you have to do it the following year and that was never going to happen. So you fall down the rankings and everyone raises their eyebrows and wonders what the hell happened.

Their defeat against Liverpool showed more promising signs because they made themselves hard to beat and that has to be the starting point for sides like Burnley.

Jurgen Klopp was moaning about some of the challenges, but that’s vital for the less fashionable sides.

Burnley have been getting beaten and it’s all looked a bit too easy, which is worrying. That just ain’t Burnley.

They received massive plaudits last season and quite rightly so.

But the trouble is when that happens, players start to believe the hype and their wages go up which goes hand-in-hand with doing well.

The wheels come off and suddenly you find yourselves right there among the favourites to be relegated.

IT would make sense for the owners of Blackpool and Solihull Moors to have a cosy chat before fighting it out for the right to play Arsenal in the FA Cup.

The romance of the cup has thrown this glamour tie up for the winners of their second-round clash, but forget the romance – to clubs like these the cup is all about cash, pure and simple.

It would be nice if both sides could somehow get a slice of the money, but that can’t happen unfortunately.

Listen, Arsenal will not lose that game. I’ve been on the wrong end of one of the biggest shocks of all time when Wrexham toppled us so no one needs to tell me how horrible it feels to sit in the away dressing room and listen to the party down the corridor.

But these days, those kind of results don’t happen. The pitches no longer have the kind of impact they did in days gone by when they were atrocious and could act as a big leveller.

I don’t see any mud on any pitch these days so those dreaming of Arsenal being sent tumbling can dream on.

But the money that game would generate could keep these smaller clubs going for the next two or three years.

Unfortunately, one is going to miss out.



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