Former Liverpool stars Michael Owen and Jason McAteer agree on Liverpool Premier League future after loss against Crystal Palace
Following a disappointing loss to Crystal Palace at Anfield, Liverpool suffered a huge blow to their hopes for the Premier League title. Former Liverpool stars Michael Owen and Jason McAteer concur that the Reds now have little chance of winning the Premier League.
Manager Jurgen Klopp is struggling to explain why Liverpool’s season is beginning to fall apart, despite their team working hard and trying to do their best.
Three days after Liverpool’s 3-0 loss to Atalanta at Anfield in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals, the Reds’ chances of winning the Premier League were severely harmed by a 1-0 home loss to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Former stars’ take on the defeat
Curtis Jones and Mohamed Salah both missed excellent opportunities as the Eagles held on as Jurgen Klopp’s team pushed for an equalizer in front of the Kop. The Liverpool commentators were in a sad mood after the game.
Speaking on Premier League Productions (h/t Liverpool Echo), Michael Owen said:
“A massive hammer blow for Liverpool. You would say with the quality of the opponent it’s going to be very difficult for them.”
“They’re two points behind a great side in Manchester City, and they could be three points behind Arsenal in a couple of hours. With the quality of the two teams above them, I can’t see either dropping points.”
Agreeing with the ex-striker, McAteer told beIN Sports (h/t Liverpool Echo) that the Reds are now third favourites to lift the Premier League title.
“City have got the recipe, we don’t know about Arsenal’s mentality. This team is a rebuild, they have never been in this situation right now and within that they have never been in this situation where they have got to pick themselves up and mentally find something.”
“I agree with you they are third favorites, I don’t think there is enough in the tank to come back from the expectation of wanting to get to Dublin in the final of the Europa League and seeing out the title for Jurgen. Maybe that expectation has taken, physically and mentally, too much out of them.”
However, despite Owen’s huge confidence in Arsenal, the Gunners failed to utilize the opportunity and lost 2-0 to Aston Villa. Their defeat allowed rival Manchester City to grab first place with six games remaining.
Liverpool trailed Arsenal by goal differential at the beginning of the weekend, but after Manchester City’s 5-1 thumping of Luton Town on Saturday, the Reds are now two points behind the leaders in third place, sharing points with Arsenal.
Liverpool will be looking to rebuild in the Premier League on Sunday when they travel to Fulham. Before that fixture, they will face Atalanta in the second leg of the Europa League quarterfinals.
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The Liverpool squad has the dreams to win it all for a perfect farewell for their boss, Jurgen Klopp. But with the performance visible in the recent matches, it is difficult to see those dreams coming true.
However, despite the continuous losses, Liverpool must learn from the mistakes and move on to focus on winning their upcoming fixtures. There still might be a chance for them to fight for the title.
