Advertisement

Rio Ferdinand sounds ominous Man City title warning to Liverpool after fine Arne Slot start

Rio Ferdinand during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD1 match between Atalanta BC and Arsenal FC at Stadio di Bergamo on September 19, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy.
-Credit: (Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)


Liverpool is just about the last side that needs warning about Manchester City. Even so, Rio Ferdinand has taken it upon himself to issue a word of caution.

With one game to go before the second international break of the season, Liverpool leads the way in the Premier League. It has been a near-perfect start for Arne Slot, although you get the sense that the Nottingham Forest performance and defeat would still haunt him even if the Reds went on to lift the title.

However, that outcome remains a very long way off. And Ferdinand has warned both Liverpool and Arsenal that it will take an awful lot more to displace Manchester City as the favorite.

Slot certainly isn't getting carried away just yet. He issued a delightful (and accurate) inadvertent dig in the direction of Manchester United recently, pointing out that Liverpool had only played "bottom" sides so far, with the top teams lined up after the next international break.

As for his players, most of them have already experienced losing out on the title to Manchester City by a single point — some have had it happen twice, having gone clear of 90 points on both occasions. Even with news of Rodri's injury, none will be taking the threat of Pep Guardiola's side lightly, despite moving into an early lead.

Ferdinand has underlined the extent of the danger. He warned Liverpool and Arsenal about Man City's unerring ability to finish strongly:

"City could be six, seven, eight points behind at the turn of the year and still be favorite," Ferdinand claimed on TNT Sports. "Theyr'e going to be in the shake-up still. Because they can go and win 20 games [in a row], do you know what I mean? They've proven this over numerous seasons now."

Gabriel Jesus of Arsenal clashes with Bernardo Silva of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Arsenal FC at Etihad Stadium on September 22, 2024 in Manchester, England.
Liverpool leads the way in the Premier League, a point clear of Manchester City and Arsenal. -Credit:Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

Also on the panel, former Manchester City player Joleon Lescott concurred. He tipped Arsenal as a slightly more likely challenger than Liverpool, but said that both would need to show an ability to win long sequences of games in order to have a chance of toppling his old club.

Whether Liverpool is even competing for the title is still somewhat unknown. Slot will certainly hope to do so, after Jurgen Klopp remained in the race for most of last season, but replacing the German was always going to be a massive task. If the picture has changed slightly on the other side of a brutal run of games, that would be understandable.

Having said that, there is no need to put a cap on this side's ambitions. While Liverpool remains in and around top spot, it will fight to remain there — and while both Manchester City and Arsenal are likely to set a high bar once again, the Reds are already well aware of the extent of the challenge.

Liverpool.com says: It's easy to say now that the fixture list has been kind, but it could have gone either way. If Slot had taken a little while to properly get going, the "nice" early games could have resulted in a procession of unacceptable dropped points that would have ended title ambitions before they even formed.

Instead, he has hit the ground running, and that has got Liverpool daring to dream once again. But that doesn't equate to an ignorance of the size of the challenge, with Manchester City highly likely to force the race over and above 90 points once more.