Arsenal and Liverpool get worst possible title race news on eve of Premier League restart

We’re nearly a third of the way through the season and it’s anyone’s guess who will lift the Premier League trophy in May.

Liverpool were expected to stagnate in a post-Jurgen Klopp transition era, but Arne Slot’s men are comfortably clear at the summit. Manchester City were tipped to make it five titles on the spin, but Pep Guardiola’s players are five points off the pace. And Arsenal were chosen by many to finally crack it under Mikel Arteta, but they’re nine points adrift in fourth.

For all three title chasers, crunch time is fast approaching. Arsenal have nine games over the next month, while City and Liverpool both have eight. The state of play could look drastically different by the New Year.

From Liverpool’s perspective, the main threat to their title challenge is City coming on strong. The Blues went into the international break off the back of four straight defeats – a first in Guardiola’s managerial career.

But the line-up that started the defeat at Brighton on November 9 was thrown together out of necessity, with Matheus Nunes on the left wing and teenager Jahmai Simpson-Pusey in central defence.

Key players Rodri, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish were all absent, while the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake were only fit enough for the bench. The international break came at the perfect time for City, and in a crushing blow for their title rivals, a selection of those injured stars are almost back.

De Bruyne, Stones, Akanji and Grealish have all been spotted in full City training on the eve of the Premier League restart, boosting Guardiola’s options in the heart of defence, out wide and in central midfield. The whole of the reigning champions’ starting XI is set to be given a facelift ahead of the most important few weeks of the campaign thus far.

With Rodri out for the season, City are desperate for a midfield talisman to take games by the scruff of the neck and put their dismal run of form behind them. De Bruyne, who has only played five Premier League games this term, has been a big miss.

The Belgian came on as a sub in the Brighton defeat, but with two more weeks of rest and recovery under his belt, City’s key creative influence is now on the verge of a full-scale comeback. Ominously for Liverpool and Arsenal, he may even be ready to start at home to Tottenham this Saturday.

City were in desperate need of a pick-me-up during the international break. With Pep Guardiola committing to the club for at least another year, and numerous star players on the comeback trail, they certainly got what they needed.