Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Liverpool remain in the driving seat in the Premier League title race but there are signs that instead of Arne Slot’s side vanishing over the horizon in the second half of the season they could face a real battle to be crowned champions.
The leaders head to Brentford on Saturday with a four-point cushion over second-placed Arsenal and a game in hand but, suddenly, they’re not having it all their own way.
While unbeaten in the league since losing at home to Nottingham Forest in September, a run of 16 games, they’ve drawn four of their last seven, having dropped points in only two of their first 13 matches.
The failure of the teams below them to take full advantage, namely Chelsea and Arsenal, and Manchester City’s meltdown towards the end of last year means Liverpool still look secure.
But Arsenal’s 2-1 home win over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, the night after Liverpool were held 1-1 by surprise packets Nottingham Forest, has left the door ajar.
Arsenal, unbeaten in 11 league games, host seventh-placed Aston Villa on Saturday, and still look the most likely side to chase Liverpool down but Forest, six points off the pace, have also become part of the conversation.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side reeled off six successive league victories before the draw with Liverpool and should get back to winning ways as they host bottom club Southampton at the City Ground.
Newcastle are the form team with six straight wins pushing them to fourth, although they’re nine points adrift of Liverpool having played a game more. They face eighth-placed Bournemouth on Saturday.
Chelsea’s climb has tailed off after a five-match winless streak in the league and Enzo Maresca’s side, currently fifth, will be desperate to get back on track at home to relegation-battling Wolves on Monday.
Liverpool will be mindful of a Brentford side who show scant regard for reputations at the Gtech Community Stadium where they have scored 29 goals, more than any other side has managed at home this season.
They have leaked 21 there too, so Saturday’s visit from Liverpool is unlikely to be cagey.
Arsenal’s midweek win over Spurs revived their mood after a difficult start to the year.
But opponents Villa are showing returning to form and the last time Arsenal lost at home in the league it was to their former manager Unai Emery’s Midlands side — a 2-0 defeat in April that helped derail the Gunners’ title ambitions.
The return of manager David Moyes to relegation-haunted Everton fell flat on Wednesday as the Scot began his second spell in charge with a 1-0 home defeat by Villa, but Sunday’s visit of a woefully out-of-form Spurs offers a chance to gain momentum.
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs have won once in their last nine league games and talk of a top-four challenge has now been replaced with that of a potential relegation battle if things don’t improve rapidly.
“The reality is that our results and our form in the league has been nowhere near good enough. That needs to change,” the Australian warned on Wednesday.
