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LAURA WOODS: MAN CITY IN MAKE-OR-BREAK MOMENT

CITY COULD SPIRAL WITH ANFIELD DEFEAT

The longer Manchester City’s slump continues, the more concerned I feel for them.

I think the 3-3 Champions League draw with Feyenoord felt more significant because of the manner of it – when do we ever see City throw away a 3-0 lead?

Yes, they’re missing Rodri but that team is far from bad. Pep Guardiola’s clear frustration literally etched on his head is also something we haven’t seen before.

He has called City ‘fragile’ lately, which points to a mentality problem too. This is a team that we’re so used to winning that it felt like they’d forgotten how to lose.

Now it’s almost like they’ve forgotten how to win – Liverpool away could be a huge make-or-break moment for their confidence.

Win at Anfield and it could kick-start their season again; lose, and lose badly, and they could spiral further.

But I don’t think Pep should, or will, feel pressure over his job if they do lose. The form the two are in, a City loss is actually to be expected for once.

Guardiola has enough credit in the bank with City to last him a lot longer at the Etihad – so you won’t catch me saying he’s under pressure for a fair bit longer still!

LIVERPOOL CLEAR OF REST

Liverpool are the clear, clear favourites for me now. With a stuttering City and a distant Arsenal, they’ve created such a cushion at the top.

If they beat City, I think Chelsea would need to lose to Villa and Arsenal would need to lose to West Ham to believe Liverpool have a firm hand on the trophy.

But maybe that’s wishful thinking – if that did happen, and they pulled 11 points clear of City, I think I might just concede on that one!

We interviewed Arne Slot after the Real Madrid win in midweek and he explained that implementing his playing style wasn’t too difficult because it’s so similar to Jurgen Klopp’s.

But even Slot is surprised with how well Liverpool are doing and the number of points they’ve picked up. He’s already equalled a league record with Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti for the fastest to 10 Premier League wins [12 matches] and his team outplayed Carlo’s in midweek.

If Liverpool can play on the biggest stage against the Champions League holders like that, then nothing is out of the realm of possibility.

And Slot was great – a calm, concise, intelligent man who instantly demands your respect. I can totally see why the players have taken to him so well. He was wonderful company.

SALAH BOLD… BUT HE’S EARNED IT

I thought Mohamed Salah’s comments regarding his contract situation were quite bold – but I didn’t mind them!

He’s earned the right to speak like that and Slot didn’t seem to mind either, adding that it maybe brings out the best in him.

I asked Gareth Bale whether contract talks like this that become the subject of public scrutiny and media questioning are a distraction to team-mates and he said ‘not at all’.

Bale added that players are so used to these kinds of discussions bubbling away – and that was pretty evident on Wednesday night when Liverpool controlled Real Madrid from start to finish.

I was particularly impressed by Caoimhín Kelleher’s penalty save and Conor Bradley’s old-school sliding tackle on Kylian Mbappe. He certainly won’t want to return to Merseyside in a hurry.

Salah’s penalty miss didn’t matter in the end – but it might knock a few digits off that new contract offer!

IS ALEXANDER-ARNOLD EXPENDABLE?

I can see Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold all staying at Liverpool but, if they could afford to lose one, I hate to say it but it would probably be Trent.

His passing range is outrageous, he is an incredible talent and still so young at 26 years old, but I think Bradley is coming through so well.

As for the loss of Salah – how could you let him go? He has picked up where he left off after the international break and continues to have another remarkable season with 21 goal involvements across all competitions so far, which is his best-ever start to a season.

His consistency is what makes him a Premier League great. You could try to replace him but he means a lot more than goals and assists to the Liverpool fanbase.

So does Van Dijk. Teams cannot afford to lose leaders on and off the pitch like that and the destabilising effect it would have could be disastrous.

You don’t need to believe Virgil is the best centre-back in the world to understand how important he is to this Liverpool team so, although I can’t believe I’m saying this, if any of the three leaves Trent would be the least missed.

CONCERN FOR BELLINGHAM

I felt for Jude Bellingham after reading his comments about the place he was in during the summer.

We do have this inevitable path for young talent where they are built up and then dragged down fairly swiftly and I worried for Jude in that sense.

He has enormous support and big media campaigns with the likes of Adidas (by the way, if you look closely you’ll see my cameo next to Ian Wright on the coach in that advert singing Hey, Jude… a real insight into the acting career I could have had!).

I also haven’t spoken to a pundit who doesn’t sing his praises. I think social media could have impacted him quite significantly though.

He is a young man, very active on it and no doubt would have read a lot of the negativity. I hope he’s protected from it.

Jude is playing a different role this season with Real Madrid, a deeper one, and that can be frustrating and affect his output at the other end of the pitch so his numbers are going to be impacted.

He exceeded expectations last season, too, and following that up was always going to be difficult. I really think we need to look after our young, English talent – it’s us that will be singing when they win us the World Cup after all.

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