Jamie Carragher says Liverpool & Arsenal ‘need’ one thing to beat Man City in title race

Jamie Carragher has claimed Manchester City are ‘still the team to beat’ in the Premier League title race and claimed he feels the champions will be in the driving seat if they beat Arsenal next time out in the league.

City and Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw at Anfield on Sunday, a result that leaves the Reds and Arsenal and point clear of Pep Guardiola’s side in a tightly contested title race. Never before at this stage of a Premier League season have three teams been separated by such a small margin, and after a three week break for FA Cup action and international fixtures, the title race resumes when Arsenal travel to the Etihad at the end of March.

It’s a game that could have a huge bearing on who finishes first, and Carragher feels it’s still City who are in the driving seat.

“If you’re Arsenal and you were watching today, you’re thinking that the best perfect result is a draw,” the former defender said on Sky Sports. “Liverpool will be watching next week and thinking a draw will be a perfect result. 

“I think from Liverpool and Arsenal’s point of view, they’re trying to chase down City. They’re still the team to beat, I would say.

"City’s next four or five games, if they’re going to drop points, it’s going to be then," Carragher added, with the Blues set to face Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Fulham and West Ham United in the last four matches of the season. "Even though Arsenal are top, I think from a Liverpool perspective I would like to see Arsenal win there or draw, certainly not a City win.

“I think City’s last five or six games of the season, you would look and think they are going to get maximum points. If they’re not going to lose points in the next three or four games, I think they’ll be difficult to stop.

“I think if City beat Arsenal, they’ll be really strong favourites,” he continued. “I do feel that Liverpool and Arsenal would need a three or four point gap going into the last five or six games of the season to top City.”

As a Sky graphic assessed the remaining Premier League fixtures for all three sides, Carragher pointed to the fact that it’s not just league games that will prove decisive. All three teams are still involved in European action, while City and Liverpool remain in the FA Cup, with the added games likely to have an impact on their respective fitness levels, according to Carragher.

“You can look at those fixtures but it’s what’s in between them in terms of the Champions League, Liverpool are playing Thursday nights,” claimed the 46-year-old. “If Liverpool and City get to the FA Cup semi-finals - let’s say they meet in the semi-final - what it takes out of you physically, psychologically at that time of the season. 

“Then a league game has to be put in between one of those fixtures and you play three league games in a week. If I’m Arsenal, I’d be thinking I’d want Liverpool and City to keep going in the FA Cup and maybe meet each other.

“From a Liverpool perspective, I’m hoping City and Arsenal meet each other in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. When you play an English team in Europe, there’s something extra about it, the build up and what it takes out of you. I think there’s so much more than in terms of fixtures.”