{"id":529198,"date":"2025-10-26T13:21:18","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:21:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/529198\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T13:21:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:21:18","slug":"liverpools-title-defence-is-over-only-one-man-can-stop-arsenal-football-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/529198\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool’s title defence is over – only one man can stop Arsenal | Football | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool FC<\/a> have seen their hopes of winning their second successive Premier League<\/a> title dashed after whimpering to a fourth consecutive league defeat<\/a>. The Reds could be seven points off top spot by the end of the weekend and may need an almost perfect run of results over the rest of the season to beat the likes of Arsenal<\/a> and Manchester City<\/a> to silverware.<\/p>\n

Liverpool<\/a> fell behind five minutes into their clash with Brentford in the evening kick-off on Saturday as Dango Ouattara pounced on a flick-on from a long throw. Kevin Schade raced through to double his side\u2019s advantage before the break, with Milos Kerkez pulling a goal back moments later. The Bees restored their two-goal lead courtesy of an Igor Thiago penalty, before Mohamed Salah<\/a> set up a nervy climax with a strike in the 89th minute. But Liverpool<\/a> ultimately left west London empty-handed.<\/p>\n

Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s lack of points after nine games indicates they may already be out of the title race.<\/p>\n

And their abysmal form means they are unlikely to turn things around any time soon, unless Arne Slot<\/a> can solve his team\u2019s problems<\/a> at the drop of a hat.<\/p>\n

Arsenal<\/a>\u2019s strong start to the season saw the Gunners enter the weekend with a three-point lead over Manchester City<\/a> at the top of the Premier League table. And they are already the overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy after narrowly missing out on silverware time and time again during Mikel Arteta<\/a>\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n

Manchester City<\/a> appear to be Arsenal<\/a>\u2019s closest rivals this season, despite enduring their own struggles over the last year.<\/p>\n

And Citizens boss Pep Guardiola<\/a> has Erling Haaland<\/a> to thank for his side\u2019s early successes this term.<\/p>\n

Haaland is the Premier League\u2019s top scorer and, ahead of his side\u2019s trip to Aston Villa, the Norway international had been responsible for 11 of City\u2019s 17 top-flight goals since the campaign got underway.<\/p>\n

His world-class finishing ability has yet again proven to be the difference in a number of tight games. And he is the only man who can stop Arsenal<\/a> cantering to their first Premier League title since 2004.<\/p>\n

If Haaland can surpass the 36 Premier League goals he scored during his maiden season at the Etihad Stadium following his arrival from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, City have a chance of usurping Arsenal<\/a> at the top of the table and winning the title in May.<\/p>\n

But if the 25-year-old\u2019s form drops, Guardiola\u2019s side could fall away from their rivals at the top.<\/p>\n

And that would leave Arsenal<\/a> to cruise to a long overdue title, with the Gunners showing they have what it takes at both ends of the pitch to take the spoils with ease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool FC have seen their hopes of winning their second successive Premier League title dashed after whimpering to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8815],"tags":[161,6167,50025,748,393,1103,12031,4884,179,763,1126,9416,62522,1036,101,171536,29639,16,15],"class_list":["post-529198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-liverpool","tag-arsenal","tag-arsenal-fc","tag-arsenal-news","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-erling-haaland","tag-football-section","tag-great-britain","tag-liverpool","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-liverpool-news","tag-man-city","tag-man-city-news","tag-manchester-city-fc","tag-premier-league","tag-premier-league-table","tag-title-defence","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115440679852222824","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}