Liverpool were fantastic as they swept aside Newcastle United at home and extended their Premier League lead to six points.
Manchester City’s shock loss could be huge in the race for the crown but we have a packed schedule with tough games against Arsenal and City. Normally, there would be talk about resting players and changing things, but we should not rotate the side much.
It is true that the likes of Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have started most of our Premier League games but playing our best XI against the top teams gives us a better chance of getting the right result.
No rest until the work is done
Jurgen Klopp claimed there is a lot of work to be done in the second half of the campaign and the German is spot on as we play two difficult sides. We might have a seven-point lead over City and six over Spurs, but continuing our momentum has to be the key.
Arsenal are coming off a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Brighton while City are in a slump, having lost to Crystal Palace and Leicester City. They play against a resurgent Southampton side before facing us at the Etihad and have some problems in their defence.
Fabian Delph is suspended while Benjamin Mendy is injured, so they are thin at left-back. Of course, we have to take it one game at a time and this is particularly why we cannot rest a player unless he is running on fumes. The team is reaching its peak as we saw against Newcastle, where we could have scored more than just four goals.
Mohamed Salah is looking great and the defence looks water-tight, so chopping and changing can take place after the City game. We play an FA Cup tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers after the City clash and that is the perfect time to mix things up.
The FA Cup is a trophy we can win but for now, it should be on the back-burner as we have some huge Premier League games coming up.
In fact, we can make a number of changes once the City clash is done as our opponents are Wolves (FA Cup) followed by Brighton (away), Crystal Palace (home) and Leicester City (home) in the league.
We could even see the return of Joe Gomez for the clash against Palace or even Leicester City, and that would be a huge boost for us. The Christmas schedule is tough for every team in the Premier League but we have done well so far. There is something special going on at Liverpool, and we need to come out unscathed from the next two games.
City are wounded beasts and Arsenal are a tricky opposition. But if we play our strongest side, there is no doubt we will remain at the top for a while.
