Liverpool’s chances of winning the Premier League have taken a huge hit after they were held to a 2-2 draw by Manchester United at Old Trafford.
The Reds came into the weekend top of the table and as the clear favourites for the title but ended it as only second favourites. Jurgen Klopp ’s side missed a whole host of chances in the first half but still took a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to Luis Diaz’s volley from a corner.
It all went downhill after the break with Bruno Fernandes taking advantage of a sloppy pass from Jarell Quansah to score from range before Kobbie Mainoo curled in a stunning finish to put United 2-1 up. Mohamed Salah limited the damage from the penalty spot after Aaron Wan-Bissaka fouled Harvey Elliott and Diaz blasted over a late chance to win it.
While Salah’s 84th-minute equaliser was crucial for Liverpool, the damage of the two dropped points was clear when the dust settled, with Arsenal top of the table on goal difference. Staticians Opta ’s supercomputer made Liverpool 45 per cent favourites before the weekend’s matches, but knocked them down to 31.3 per cent – a huge drop of 13.7 per cent – after the game.
That 13.7 per cent has been spread out to their rivals Arsenal and Manchester City, who have both been buoyed by the result after winning their matches. City beat Crystal Palace 4-2 at Selhurst Park thanks largely to Kevin De Bruyne’s brilliance, while the Gunners became the first side to win at Brighton since August in a statement 3-0 victory.
City had a 33.6 per cent chance of winning a sixth title in seven seasons before the weekend and are now up to 39.7 per cent – a healthy 6.1 per cent swing. But Arsenal were the biggest winners of the weekend, going from 21.4 per cent to 29 per cent thanks to their win and Liverpool’s draw.
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Liverpool were well aware of just how damaging the dropped two points were, with captain Virgil van Dijk describing their draw as feeling like a defeat. Klopp gave a similarly gloomy interview after the full-time whistle in Old Trafford.
“Probably if we are still around then [in the race] it would be great,” he said. “But Arsenal is a good football team and if they [United] play like they did today Arsenal will win that game, I’m 100 per cent sure. I’m really sorry to say it but we should have won both games [after losing in the cup] and didn’t. That’s our fault.”
Arsenal have a clear advantage of +52 goal difference, compared to Liverpool’s +42 and City’s +40. Asked about how significant that could be, Klopp said: “It matters after 38 matchday – a lot. People and our supporters as well will tell us now we need to better our goal difference [but to] go for that, that would be the dumbest thing we could do.
“That doesn’t happen on purpose; you don’t go into a game wanting to score eight goals and it happens. We are who we are and we are how we are and that’s why we are in the race. I’m absolutely fine with that. I knew it would be super tricky until the end.”
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