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Trent Alexander-Arnold gives honest assessment of Liverpool’s Premier League title chances ahead of huge Manchester City clash.
Trent Alexander-Arnold has revealed that Liverpool’s primary goal for the 2023–24 season is to secure the Premier League title. The Reds, under the management of Jurgen Klopp, are gearing up to challenge Manchester City once more.
Liverpool clinched a historic Premier League crown in the 2019–20 season and has finished as runners-up twice in the last five campaigns.
Despite slipping out of the top four in the previous season, they have regained their form and currently sit in second place, just one point behind the league leaders. The upcoming crucial clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday adds further significance to their pursuit of the title.
Alexander-Arnold has said of the collective mindset at Anfield heading into another heavyweight duel with City: “Being in three campaigns where we’d have won the league if it wasn’t for City – we won one but went close in two more – you get a feeling for what you know you are capable of doing. Looking around the dressing room, looking at the players we have got, the team, the spirit, the vibe around the team, that [challenging for the league] is something that we feel is achievable. Our aim as a team is to win the league and that’s the aim again this season. Last season wasn’t good enough. But challenging is something that we believe we can achieve, that is where our sights are at.”
After losing players like Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool had to restock their roster in recent transfer windows, but Alexander-Arnold thinks they are in a strong position to win another Premier League.
He added: “If that wasn’t the case, I would be here saying, ‘I want to get back in the top four.’ Because, genuinely, there is nothing wrong with that for this team. There is a rebuild going on, and new players and a lot of senior players have left, it would be very normal to say, ‘get back in the top four and push on from there’. But so far we’ve performed in a way that is how you would expect someone who can win the league to perform and if we carry this on we should be in and around it come May.
“Right now we have put ourselves in a good position, we have built a great foundation – it is just about consistency. That’s the hardest thing in football, but we have shown that we are more than capable of doing it. I think the players who are experienced in being successful with the club all understand what it takes and what’s needed to even challenge a team like City. It was about getting that message across as quickly as possible to the new players and young players coming in. Our ambition is to be as successful as possible and to maximise the potential we have got as a team and as a club. At the start of last season it was the same as at the start of this season: our ambition was to win the league.”
Liverpool has only lost once in their first 12 games this season, amassing 27 points, but they haven’t triumphed at City on the road since November 2015.