PREMIER LEAGUE
LIVERPOOL LOOK LIKE THE ONLY TEAM TRULY CAPABLE OF REELING IN MAN CITY
The Reds lost their first game of the campaign 3-2 away to West Ham in November, bouncing back from that by winning their next six. That got them right back in the mix, but two draws and a defeat in a run of three straight away games against Tottenham, Leicester and Chelsea in late December and early January, along with some postponements, saw Liverpool lose serious ground to City. Chelsea fared even worse over the winter. The Blues were hoping to build on last season’s European triumph and mount a sustained title challenge in a bid to claim their first Premier League title since 2017. They did well to hang on for a draw against Liverpool at Anfield despite going down to 10 men in the first half, but a 1-0 home defeat to City in September brought them back down to earth. After losing to the team they beat in the Champions League final four months previously, Thomas Tuchel’s side went unbeaten in eight, before losing a London derby away to West Ham at the death. They responded with a late victory of their own against Leeds, but then went on an awful run of only one win in seven matches from mid-December to mid-January. The Blues’ only defeat during that spell was
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SOCCER360 MARCH • APRIL 2022
ABOVE: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has a tough task reeling in the champions BOTTOM: Tottenham manager Antonio Conte didn’t stand a chance in this season’s title race BOTTOM RIGHT: Tottenham Hotspur celebrating RIGHT: Ralf Rangnick has improved Manchester United but the Reds remain way off the pace
another 1-0 loss to City, but all the dropped points well and truly dumped the west London club out of the title picture. It would take a remarkable loss of form from City for Chelsea to get back into it, while overhauling Liverpool is going to be incredibly tough too. Despite finishing second last season, Manchester United are nowhere near a title challenge. The Reds went into the campaign full of optimism after bringing Cristiano Ronaldo home to Old Trafford, with the arrivals of Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho expected to take United to the next level. Those expectations were looking promising after the Reds won four of their first five matches, drawing the other away to Southampton, but then a run of only one win from seven matches cost Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his job. The Norwegian rebuilt the foundations at Old Trafford that had been decimated by Jose Mourinho, but painful defeats to rivals Liverpool and City, followed by a 4-1 humiliation at relegation-threatened Watford saw the curtain fall on Solskjaer’s time at the wheel. Tottenham were another club looking to rebuild from the ashes of a toxic Mourinho
