What a four months it has been at Anfield; and Liverpool fans must be rubbing their eyes when they look at the Premier League table and see their side five points clear at the top.
The Reds went into the international break on the back of an impressive 2-0 win over Aston Villa, a 15th victory in 17 games in all competitions and that took them five clear of Manchester City, who lost to Brighton and Hove Albion. The SBOTOP Premier League 2024 betting odds have installed Arne Slot’s side as the title favourites at 2.20 while the Sky Blues have drifted out to 3.25 and Arsenal are the third contenders at 4.00.
Mohammed Salah is in fine form for the Reds and he scored a breakaway second against Villa after Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez had given Liverpool an early lead. As well as Manchester City losing, Chelsea and Arsenal, third and fourth, played out a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge and they are nine points off the pace. If things weren’t going well enough for Liverpool fans they have just seen their young star Curtis Jones score his first international goal for England with a clever back-heel in a 3-0 win over Greece. And, as well as leading their domestic league the Reds are proudly top of the new format Champions League table, with four wins from four. After they travel away to bottom club Southampton next weekend Liverpool have a mouth-watering Champions League match at home to Real Madrid on Wednesday 27th October and they have the chance to prove their superb start in Europe is not a flash in the pan.
Liverpool’s clash with Los Blancos is quickly followed by another home game, this time in the Premier League against reigning champions Manchester City, so Slot’s men will arguably face the two best club sides in world football in four days. Win both those games and the global order will surely change!
In other Premier League 2024 news City have gone on a four match losing streak, in all competitions and manager Pep Guardiola has been asked whether this is the biggest challenge of his career in Manchester. He is quick to point out that the Sky Blues started their 2020/21 league campaign with five victories from 12 games, before going on a 15 match winning run to win their first of four consecutive league titles. The loss of influential midfielder Rodri to an ACL injury has been a serious blow, though Croatia star Mateo Kovacic has stepped in and the Sky Blues know they need to get back to winning ways quickly, starting with a home game against struggling Tottenham on Saturday.
Of course the Sky Blues still have their legal battle with the Premier League rumbling on and, on Saturday, it was reported in the UK newspaper the Times that the club had written to the other 19 members of the top flight, urging them to reject the league’s proposal for new sponsorship rules which the City lawyers insist are ‘unlawful.’
Guardiola says the off-field issues are not affecting his team and a dose of context should be applied to their current loss of form, after all they have won seven of their opening 11 league games, a much better start than their 2020/21 title winning season. I still suspect the Sky Blues will put together a run in the second half of the campaign, as they habitually do and, if Pep does win his fifth title on the run he might be tempted to call it a day. City bosses are on alert with the news that Bundesliga winner Xabi Alonso will be ready to move on from Bayer Leverkusen.
Amorin prepares for his Premier League bow
Up the road in Salford, the next of a long line of Manchester United managers, since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, has just stepped through the Old Trafford door and Ruben Amorin will take charge of his first game as Red Devils boss away to Ipswich Town. Manchester United are priced at SBOTOP odds of 1.59 to beat the Tractor Boys and fans will be hoping the good work done by interim boss Ruud Van Nistelrooy can be continued. Under the Dutch former playing star the Red Devils have beaten Leicester City twice as well as PAOK Salonika, and he picked up a 1-1 league draw at home to Chelsea.
The Red Devils are currently in 13th place in the league table so Amorin will be under no illusions as to the size of the task which faces him. He will take some time to weight up his squad but it is clear the Red Devils are missing a goal scorer, with Rasmus Hojlund yet to prove he can cut it in the English top flight. Amorin may be tempted to go back to Lisbon in January to make a bid for Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres who has thrived at Sporting since his switch from Coventry City in 2023, with 45 goals from 44 games. The 26 year old has already bagged 23 this season from 18 games and he might be ready to take the step up to the Premier League.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
