“You can forget about beating them!” – Trent Alexander-Arnold issues clear Manchester City warning in Premier League title race | OneFootball

Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has issued a clear warning to those ruling out Manchester City in the ongoing race for the Premier League title this season.

The reigning Premier League champions come into their next English top-flight encounter trailing Liverpool by eight points and lying in fourth position in the table, knowing that any further slip-ups could cause them huge problems further down the line.

The deficit in the Premier League table is part of a wider run of poor form for Manchester City across competitions, losing seven of their last 10 matches and winning just one game in that time, whilst Juventus’ 2-0 win over Guardiola’s side created European concerns.

But despite the poor form from the champions, and having lost consecutive matches against Bournemouth, Brighton & Hove Albion, Liverpool, and Tottenham in the top-flight, one of City’s primary rivals for the title has issued a stern warning to those competing.

Speaking to Sky Sports this week ahead of another round of Premier League action this weekend, Trent Alexander-Arnold admitted that whilst City’s recent form is a “big surprise to everyone”, teams should not be ruling Pep Guardiola’s side out of the title race.

“I’ve always said if you’ve ever got a chance to beat City, it’s always before Christmas. I think maybe they’re still finding their feet in the first three, four months and then after Christmas going on to New Year, at that point you can forget about beating them,” the Liverpool star said.

The Merseyside defender continued, “You can honestly forget about it, because not many teams do (beat them)! Once it clicks around New Year, they’ll go five months without losing a game and they might draw one or two, but they’ll just win and carry on winning.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case again. They’ve probably dropped more points than they ever have so far, but they’re a team that have won four in a row, a Treble a couple of seasons ago, incredibly strong with world class players, an incredible manager as well.

“So you can never rule them out and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were back in the title race come the end of the season.”

Manchester City take on Manchester United in a mammoth edition of the bitter rivalry between the two clubs at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with both sides desperate to put together a consistent run of winning form to improve their respective seasons.

Liverpool could extend their lead over City to 11 points before kick-off in the weekend’s Manchester derby, whilst also holding a game in hand over their competitors following the postponement of their trip to Everton earlier this month.