Rio Ferdinand has picked out Liverpool as the ‘favourites’ for the Premier League title and believes Arne Slot’s side will tighten their grip on top spot with victory over Manchester City this weekend.
After taking on the daunting task of replacing the great Jurgen Klopp in the summer, Slot has enjoyed the best start of any manager in Premier League history.
The Merseyside giants have failed to win just just two of their opening 12 matches in the English top flight to open up an imperious eight-point lead over champions City at the top of the table.
A 2-0 defeat of Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night means Liverpool have also won every single cup match they have entered since the 2024/25 campaign began.
The Reds will look to continue their remarkable start to the season this weekend when they play host to City, who are barely recognisable from the team that secured a fourth straight title last term.
City enter this weekend’s contest on the back of an incredible six-match winless streak, containing the worst losing run of Pep Guardiola’s entire managerial career.
Previewing Sunday’s clash on TNT Sports, ex-Manchester United and England defender Ferdinand said: ‘Before a ball is kicked at the weekend, if you had to put your money on anybody winning the league and the Champions League then Liverpool would be your first bets, I’m sure right now.
‘They’re favourites. I’m not saying they will but right now they will be favourites. That means there is confidence brimming here, you can feel there is an anticipation before a ball is even kicked in the stadium.
‘There is a confidence from the fans, to the players, to the manager, and there seems to be a quiet authority when they’re playing now, with and without the ball.
‘They’re looking in a real good state at the moment but I think they’re meeting Manchester City at a perfect time for Liverpool.
‘They’re in form, City are struggling, they can’t buy a win at the moment, and if you’re a betting man then you would bet on Liverpool beating City at the weekend.’
Ferdinand’s former United and England team-mate, Gary Neville, delivered a similarly dreary prediction for Guardiola’s ‘vulnerable’ City when giving his thoughts on the match on The Overlap US’ It’s Called Soccer.
‘I think Liverpool versus Manchester City is really interesting. I’m doing the game and can’t wait for it because there is a lot riding on it,’ Neville said.
‘I’ve never seen City look as vulnerable in the Pep Guardiola era.
‘Jamie Redknapp mentioned this and I thought it was a really good point, where he said that the pressure, all of a sudden, in this fixture is on Liverpool in the sense that everyone will expect Liverpool to win because everyone is beating City!
‘What will that do to Liverpool? I think Liverpool will win. Looking at City at this moment in time, when you feel that intensity and passion that Liverpool have, I think they could run all over them is my gut feeling.
‘But there is that Pep Guardiola, these group of players have achieved a lot in this last four, five years, you could never write them off.
‘Is this the day that basically they’re poked that much that they stir and something happens? It could be but my feeling is that Liverpool will win this game.
‘But the pressure, I think, is on Liverpool to win, more than it is on City to win because of what has happened.
‘It’s mad to think that City have lost all those games in a row, it’s intriguing and I’m looking forward to it already.’
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