Mikel Arteta’s men were held to a 2-2 stalemate by Sunderland on Saturday evening, giving City the opportunity to narrow the gap at the summit to four points following their 3-0 win against Liverpool on Sunday. ..Continue Reading
City’s credentials for the Premier League title came under scrutiny in August after consecutive losses to Tottenham and Brighton. However, Pep Guardiola’s team bounced back by winning six of their next eight fixtures, and were only denied a win at Arsenal due to Gabriel Martinelli’s late equaliser.
“I’ve not been impressed by City that much but yesterday [against Liverpool], I thought for the first time they’re going to be [challengers],” Scholes said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.
“I think they’re slightly still favourites ahead of Arsenal, because of what they’ve done.
“I know Arsenal are four points clear, but with the experience they’ve got and Arsenal haven’t. You have to put them [City] slightly ahead of them.”
Elsewhere, Robbie Fowler feels Liverpool have already fallen out of contention for the title after their loss to City at the Etihad, which leaves them trailing Arsenal by eight points.
“I’m more of a realist when it comes to football,” Fowler said.
“The manager will come out and say all the right things, don’t get me wrong, you can’t say you’ve given up because that looks terrible from the outside looking in.
“But you’ve got to have a little bit of realism as well because history tells you there’s only been a few team who have won the Premier League on the back of six or seven defeats.
“It’s going to be hard for Liverpool. If Liverpool want to win the league now, they’ve got to win virtually every game. They can’t even draw games, they’ve got to win them.
“I think they’re out of the title but I don’t think they’ll come out and say we’re not it, you’ve got that professionalism, you still need to kick on and get the points.
“I got asked yesterday if Liverpool were out of their rut and I went, ‘don’t be getting carried away’. They beat Aston Villa, for 45 minutes Liverpool weren’t great, then they beat Real Madrid, so it’s only 45 minutes in a league game where they looked relatively okay.”
Scholes added: “Before yesterday, I thought they still had a bit of a chance [to retain the title].
“But you watch yesterday, the way they got beat.”
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