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Episode 26 of the High Press podcast discusses the 2023-24 Premier League title race, and whether this is the best in Premier League history.
Host Vai Bhardwaj is joined by Dean Jones, Liam Twomey & Dom Smith to remember some of the most iconic title races and look ahead to the remaining fixtures as Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City battle for the Premier League trophy.
Weekend overview
Immediately focusing on Liverpool’s failure to beat Manchester United, Twomey says, “If Liverpool don’t go on to win the league, those two Manchester United goals are going to be replayed a lot. They were great goals, but they were also narrative heavy.”
Jones believes ‘a lot of this season will come down to emotion’. He states that emotion got the better of Liverpool at Old Trafford, while Arsenal and Manchester City calmly handled business against Brighton and Crystal Palace respectively.
While Smith wasn’t too impressed with City’s performance at Selhurst Park, the fact they scored four goals when they didn’t play that well seems significant.
He says, “They’ve got so many match winners, and I think that might be a deciding factor.”
Bhardwaj and Jones talk about how experience could work in City’s favour down the stretch. Bhardwaj mentions Arsenal’s slip ups towards the end of the last two seasons.
Twomey replies, “In a vacuum, Arsenal look ready to me. I think they’ve got all the ingredients.”
He also compares the benefits of having been there and done it with the additional ‘hunger’ that Arsenal will have for glory.
Jones responds by saying, “If I was beamed down to earth for this season, I was forced to watch every game and I’d never watched football before, I would be expecting Arsenal to win the league. I’d be watching thinking ‘this is the best team in this league’.”
Fitness and squad depth
While the panel are in agreement that Arsenal have had the most luck with injuries, Smith is keen to point out how well City and Liverpool have done to stay in the title race with Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Mohamed Salah, Alisson and others all missing chunks of time.
Twomey says he’s keeping an eye on Bukayo Saka, who has ‘been on the edge of an injury that could rule him out for a couple of games for about six weeks’. He adds that he’s ‘their Salah’, and thinks it’s vital the England international stays fit.
After Smith reminisces about City’s phenomenal final-day triumph in 2012, Jones even suggests that we could see something similar this year.
Twomey remembers Chelsea pipping Manchester United to the title in 2009-10. The Blues scored 103 goals that season and won by a single point after winning at Old Trafford in the closing weeks – they sealed the title by hammering Wigan 8-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Guardiola vs Klopp
Looking at the ‘rivalry’ between Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp, Twomey describes it as respectful, while Jones says it’s ‘new-age’, and that Alex Ferguson would’ve never behaved like this with a manager he was going toe-to-toe with.
Will it go down to the final day?
With Bhardwaj asking for predictions, Jones says it ‘feels like it’s City’s title to lose’, and he believes it will go down to the final day. Smtih also fancies our chances of getting a final day decider, but doesn’t expect all three teams to still be in the race.
Are we witnessing greatest title race in PL history?
The panel are in agreement that this is the best title race in the Premier League era. Do you agree? Who are you backing to lift the trophy?
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