Fast-forward to now, and although not over yet, Man City's title defense is becoming more and more difficult. Nobody could have foreseen the champions' recent capitulation, the 4-0 loss to Tottenham at home, and while the season is still young, an eight-point lead heading into December is significant — and that's exactly what Liverpool should have by the close of play today.
Russell Martin's Southampton team has received plaudits for its style of play but, ultimately, it has picked up just four points from 11 games, and Arne Slot and his players will be kicking themselves if they are not returning to Merseyside on Sunday night with maximum points.
There is the small matter of a Champions League meeting with Real Madrid wedged between the league games against Southampton and City. Managers tend to say their full focus is always on the next opponent, but Arne Slot would be lying if he said he hadn't paid any mind to City's plight.
After Saturday's shocking loss to Tottenham, Pep Guardiola gave an honest assessment of where he feels his team's problems lie. "I think we struggled more without the ball, especially the high pressing, but with the ball we are creating. I don't know how many chances, but we are there many, many times and in the end our game was there, but in every situation it is not going well. We have to accept it and go forward."
Guardiola is right — City's players are creating chances, and while they do that, they carry a big threat — but the admission that the team is struggling without the ball is telling.
The Catalan could hardly praise his team's defending after a 4-0 loss, and it was obvious to everybody who watched the match that City couldn't handle Tottenham's attacking intensity, but equally he didn't absolutely need to say that.
That admission will be music to Liverpool fans' ears given the intensity with which the Reds attack under Slot. Jurgen Klopp enjoyed plenty of success against City at Anfield, with Guardiola's men often struggling to cope with Liverpool's relentless energy and suffering several emphatic defeats.
Liverpool is perhaps less gung-ho under Slot, who has added an element of control to the team's approach, but the Reds are still as merciless in attack as they were under their legendary German former boss. Should City's struggles without the ball continue next weekend, there will only be one outcome, and that outcome could effectively spell the end of City's pursuit of five-in-a-row.
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