Will we win the league this season?

[Brightwell Bros.]

Maybe an unpopular achievement. But if we win the league this year with all due respect to our current squad against this Liverpool team, I think it will be the hardest title we’ve won.

I don't think there will ever be a harder won title than 18/19 in my life, in this or any other league. 98 points, a single dropped point in the run in and you lose, a Liverpool side that would wipe the floor with this Liverpool side.

 

[Marvin.]

Maybe an unpopular achievement. But if we win the league this year with all due respect to our current squad against this Liverpool team, I think it will be the hardest title we’ve won.

Have you watched any Liverpool games this season? The fire has gone out.

City and Arsenal fans will be hugely encouraged by Liverpool's performances. You can never be sure how the Champions will react, and so far their performances have been awful.

If you have not seen it yet, you should read what Liverpool superfan Carragher has to say about Liverpool. This was posted first on the Liverpool thread.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Have you watched any Liverpool games this season? The fire has gone out.

City and Arsenal fans will be hugely encouraged by Liverpool's performances. You can never be sure how the Champions will react, and so far their performances have been awful.

If you have not seen it yet, you should read what Liverpool superfan Carragher has to say about Liverpool. This was posted first on the Liverpool thread.

There is no doubt that Liverpool’s points total are far in excess over what their performances deserve so far. A few of us said this when the story was Liverpool will run away with the league, so it isn’t recency bias. The table absolutely lies if you want to predict likely outcomes going forward, particularly this early in the season.

There are two ways of looking at it.

1. Liverpool haven’t being performing well and eventually the results will reflect that.

2. Liverpool haven’t being performing but managed to win while playing badly and they can still improve a lot.

There is no doubt that 1 is correct. However number 2 might still be correct also. We can only wait and see. After 12 games the league table becomes 70% correct. By this time Opta’s prediction will be about 77% correct.

At the start and the end of seasons predictions vary a lot position wise if not points wise.

Right now Opta have

1. Liverpool 77
2. Arsenal 76
3. City 68

Subjectively, I think, of the three teams, City have the biggest opportunity to improve our performances. If things go our way (like injuries which are a huge factor for all teams) and we gel quicker than expected, then there is no reason why we can’t close that gap. I don’t think any team runs away with the league and if we can get 80+ points we could win it.

Carragher is a person I am not a fan of to say the least. However, his punditry varies from stupidity, in relation to City’s charges, to insightful when it comes to tactics and underlying statistics (the video you posted). The latter is something quite rare from former players and is something that the likes of Micah can only dream of. Micah has his own niche which is to shout and laugh and that has its place too.

 

[alexmcity]

Liverpool played an Arsenal team without Saliba and Saka. Now they'll play a Chelsea team without Palmer and some other good players. Luck plays a significant role. Still, I don't think they'll beat Chelsea.

 

[Gone for a Burton]

I think we'll get 88 points as Champions.

 

[HelloCity]

Thierry Henry: “At half-time people say, ‘What’s wrong with #ManCity today?’ I’m thinking, ‘Guys, it’s not normal to be 4-0 up at half-time, to toy with teams, to win four [Premier League titles] in a row, to win six in eight – it’s just not normal!’ But because City have been that good, it became normal..." [via @ManCity]

 

[IronsideKozuch]

Going by the eye test Arsenal should be favourites. They looks as the most solid team and have a strong bench this time around. Personally i much prefer Arsenal over LFC, but even before the season I insisted on doubts about LFC. Wirtz should be better upon time but hes just so lightweight for this era of Premier League. Media were praising LFC transfers, but at the same time LFC lost few very valuable PL proven players like Diaz, Trent and Jota. It has to take a bit of an impact. And then you have Van Dijk or Salah who really could be on the verge of decline.

We deffo should be better than last year, its quite clear already that our rebuild is on the way and new players improving their impact (Donnarumma, Khusanov, Nico) and old ones stepping up (Doku, Foden, Dias). Plus we have already important advantage over Arsenal, we have played at the Emirates and its Arsenal whose gonna come for points to the Etihad. Regardless of our form we could beat anybody at home.

Actually quite fun to look ahead this season even if not as usually as favourites. It could suits us actually, you can see Pep likes this position.

 

[alexmcity]

There is no doubt that Liverpool’s points total are far in excess over what their performances deserve so far. A few of us said this when the story was Liverpool will run away with the league, so it isn’t recency bias. The table absolutely lies if you want to predict likely outcomes going forward, particularly this early in the season.

There are two ways of looking at it.

1. Liverpool haven’t being performing well and eventually the results will reflect that.

2. Liverpool haven’t being performing but managed to win while playing badly and they can still improve a lot.

There is no doubt that 1 is correct. However number 2 might still be correct also. We can only wait and see. After 12 games the league table becomes 70% correct. By this time Opta’s prediction will be about 77% correct.

At the start and the end of seasons predictions vary a lot.

Right now Opta have

1. Liverpool 77
2. Arsenal 76
3. City 68

Subjectively, I think, of the three teams, City have the biggest opportunity to improve our performances. If things go our way (like injuries which are a huge factor for all teams) and we gel quicker than expected, then there is no reason why we can’t close that gap. I don’t think any team runs away with the league and if we can get 80+ points we could win it.

Carragher is a person I am not a fan of to say the least. However, his punditry varies from stupidity, in relation to City’s charges, to insightful when it comes to tactics and underlying statistics (the video you posted). The latter is something quite rare from former players and is something that the likes of Micah can only dream of. Micah has his own niche which is to shout and laugh and that has its place too.

Those totals are a bit low. Every season they project low point totals. The league is very strong indeed, but I think Arsenal and hopefully City will go above 83 pts, maybe even 86 pts. Can't say about Liverpool as they have serious defensive problems, but if their attack clicks, they'll go above 80 pts as well. Of course, I assume that none of those teams will have serious injuries to key players.

 

[Goater101]

Can’t wait for the Rat face podcast after we beat Liverpool and he then has to admit that city are in the title picture.

 

[citeh94]

Very unpopular.
Their 18/19 team were streets ahead of this team.
97 points and 2nd place to our boys in blue.
This L’pool team not a patch on that one.

Yes maybe but we were 9 points behind so early this year, and in 17/18 we had our centurions year. So yeah i get what you mean 100% but we came into this year on the back of a shit year and in 18/19 we came in as champions and probably one of the best teams on the planet. Yes its a better Liverpool team but that City team was probably a hundred times better than this City team now. To be honest, I don’t think im 100% sure but i think it would definitely be up there with that season.

 

[citeh94]

Have you watched any Liverpool games this season? The fire has gone out.

City and Arsenal fans will be hugely encouraged by Liverpool's performances. You can never be sure how the Champions will react, and so far their performances have been awful.

If you have not seen it yet, you should read what Liverpool superfan Carragher has to say about Liverpool. This was posted first on the Liverpool thread.

Yes i have watched nearly every single game theyve played this year bar the EFL Cup and Burnley and i see a team that can only get better.
When Wirtz and Isak finally click i have no doubt they will start to win games easier.

 

[alexmcity]

i see a team that can only get better.

VVD and Salah ain't getting younger. And Alisson has started to pick up injuries more often than in the past.

Edit: Liverpool have 3 CBs now (?), as the 4th (Leoni) did his ACL. 2 of them, Konate and Gomez, don't have the best fitness record, and VVD is 34.

 

[K-Bo]

There’s more of an argument then last month lol but still no. There are weaknesses in our starting 11

 

[IronsideKozuch]

Yes i have watched nearly every single game theyve played this year bar the EFL Cup and Burnley and i see a team that can only get better.
When Wirtz and Isak finally click i have no doubt they will start to win games easier.

There are zero guarantees in football. Wirtz gonna get better, but he still gonna struggle with PL's physicality. My bet is hes gonna be an Aston Villa Coutinho rather than Liverpool's Coutinho.

Isak should come up good, thats true, but VVD and Salah could hit the decline rapidly.

Im still to be convinced about LFC backline bar VVD. Konate could be world class, but could have few games in a row with basic mistakes. Maybe i picked wrong games to watch LFC, but even when they won i seen Kerkez, Frimpong, Bradley all playing poorly and easily skipped over by opposition players. LFC lacks good CB's on the bench. If VVD or Konate is injured what they do?

I just do not believe LFC gonna be champions this year.

 

[Cobwebcat]

Those totals are a bit low. Every season they project low point totals. The league is very strong indeed, but I think Arsenal and hopefully City will go above 83 pts, maybe even 86 pts. Can't say about Liverpool as they have serious defensive problems, but if their attack clicks, they'll go above 80 pts as well. Of course, I assume that none of those teams will have serious injuries to key players.

I agree I think it’s too low this year too. However, every year I’ve monitored it, it has been more accurate than nearly all Bluemoon guesses with BM normally going way too high. I normally wait for 12 games to pass before seeing what it says. If we remember they are currently saying 77 points to win it we can see how they did at the end of the season. My gut is to agree with your prediction at around 84 points…but I usually lose to Opta too.

 

[IronsideKozuch]

There’s more of an argument then last month lol but still no. There are weaknesses in our starting 11

We could be really strong and challenge for the title if we avoide injuries.

Weaknesses in starting 11? Maybe, but:

- Khusanov been really good as RB. I agree we need him for best opponents, but for the lesser teams Nunes/Lewis could do the job. As a RB/inverted RB we have Stones as well whose coming up to speed I hope;

- second question is about Rodri, whether hes gonna get to his best or thereabouts; thats maybe most important question. Nico improved lately, but in terms of escaping pressing, reading opponents moves prime Rodri is just the best. But we have a better Nico and Kovacic is coming back. And Kovacic been one of our best players 2024/2025;

- we do not have a nailed on starter on RW but my feeling is we have enough to cover. Maybe one of Savinho/Bobb gonna explode with form, if not we have Bernardo, Cherki, even Foden;

- Reijnders is good. Although we need him to do like he did during CWC and Wolves. Its been a mix bag since.

 

[eastmanc]

Ask me in April 2026! :-)

We also know what it takes in a tight run in.

 

[eastmanc]

We could be really strong and challenge for the title if we avoide injuries.

Weaknesses in starting 11? Maybe, but:

- Khusanov been really good as RB. I agree we need him for best opponents, but for the lesser teams Nunes/Lewis could do the job. As a RB/inverted RB we have Stones as well whose coming up to speed I hope;

- second question is about Rodri, whether hes gonna get to his best or thereabouts; thats maybe most important question. Nico improved lately, but in terms of escaping pressing, reading opponents moves prime Rodri is just the best. But we have a better Nico and Kovacic is coming back. And Kovacic been one of our best players 2024/2025;

- we do not have a nailed on starter on RW but my feeling is we have enough to cover. Maybe one of Savinho/Bobb gonna explode with form, if not we have Bernardo, Cherki, even Foden;

- Reijnders is good. Although we need him to do like he did during CWC and Wolves. Its been a mix bag since.

Kush is shit according to the so called experts.

 

[Buckshaw Blue]

So many factors to consider that it’s almost impossible to call. Form, injuries, suspensions etc.

City, Liverpool, Arsenal all in the mix but could end up in any order! If we can stay close to the top going into the new year then we’re definitely in with a shout.

 

[K-Bo]

We could be really strong and challenge for the title if we avoide injuries.

Weaknesses in starting 11? Maybe, but:

- Khusanov been really good as RB. I agree we need him for best opponents, but for the lesser teams Nunes/Lewis could do the job. As a RB/inverted RB we have Stones as well whose coming up to speed I hope;

- second question is about Rodri, whether hes gonna get to his best or thereabouts; thats maybe most important question. Nico improved lately, but in terms of escaping pressing, reading opponents moves prime Rodri is just the best. But we have a better Nico and Kovacic is coming back. And Kovacic been one of our best players 2024/2025;

- we do not have a nailed on starter on RW but my feeling is we have enough to cover. Maybe one of Savinho/Bobb gonna explode with form, if not we have Bernardo, Cherki, even Foden;

- Reijnders is good. Although we need him to do like he did during CWC and Wolves. Its been a mix bag since.

If I'm being absolutely brutal, these would be the concerns:

Right wing: I think Savio/Bobb are erratic, and neither is top quality right now. Bernardo can play there, but he's physically on the wane. I could see cherki/foden taking the position and sort of rotating with each other, but cherki is also an unknown in the prem. The position is not locked.

The other midfielder: Im not overly impressed by reijnders so far, he's useful around the box but he's not the most physical and gets bullied in challenges, needs to figure that out. In long term he may become top, but won't be this season. I doubt Pep will play foden/cherki in the 8, so the other options become Bernardo/Kovacic/Nico G, all of whom are not top level at this point I think. Reijnders has the shirt, but its feeling like he's going to have a grealish/Mahrez first season where he needs to learn to play with pep, some good moments along with some poor ones.

Right back: Khusanov seems excellent defensively but offers 0 going forward, which means our right winger will always be more isolated and ineffective than our left winger, who will have either o reilly or ait nouri to compliment him. I think a knock on effect of Khusanov every week will be to amplify the right wing situation. Nunes/lewis maybe help that, but are half the defenders Khusanov is, and we will concede goals on that side if they play. I don't think either is the ideal solution and we should have bought a rb, but Khusanov clearly the best option for now.

Rodri: Do we have the actual rodri back, or a lesser version? We don't know right now, and even a lesser rodri is better than the vast majority of midfielders out there, but he might not be able to carry us like he did. I think this is a big question and we'll see how his body holds up.

Goals: We need people other than haaland to score. They didn't really last season. I think foden will, but we still dont have a ton of goals from the wings, nor from most of our midfielders. If haaland scored 40 goals, no problem. If he gets injured or goes through bad form. Might be an issue.