Arsenal legend makes Liverpool 'reset' claim and new Premier League title prediction

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They then followed that up by producing their best performance of the season to beat Real Madrid 1-0 at Anfield in the Champions League.But Arne Slot's team headed into the international break on a low with their 3-0 reverse at Manchester City leaving them four points behind their second-placed opponents and eight behind leaders Arsenal, who had slipped up the previous evening by drawing 2-2 at Sunderland.READ MORE: Robbie Fowler names player Liverpool have never replaced and picks Antoine Semenyo alternativeREAD MORE: Florian Wirtz 'perfect' as two likely Liverpool starters vs Nottingham Forest emergeLiverpool will have the chance to cut the gap to Pep Guardiola's side and Mikel Arteta's men when they return to action at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday (3pm).And Smith, who won the First Division Golden Boot when Arsenal lifted the title in 1989 and 1991, told the ECHO via BestBettingSites.co.uk: "The first point to call maybe is that they can’t give themselves that strong base, that platform to go in and keep a clean sheet, and then maybe nick games 1-0 or whatever."Ibrahima Konate's struggles continue, and that can have effects right across the back four and throughout the team. So there’s a lack of belief there, I think at the moment, and you thought it was building after Villa and Real Madrid, but the City defeat would have hit them hard."They can talk about that disallowed goal from Virgil van Dijk, and it should have been allowed, and who knows how the match would have panned out after that at 1-1.

But they are a distance off where they would want to be at the moment."I don’t think they’d want to admit that (they are out of the title race), because eight points can be closed up, but they’ve got to do ever so well from here on in, and you’re hoping Arsenal and City just trip up a little bit. So they’ve got a little bit of space in between them and City, but as we know, a lot can happen."They’ve just dropped two points at Sunderland, so you don’t know."I think it’s going to be a really good race this season.

I think they didn’t want to overrule the ref, really. His weight was on the other side, on the right, and he was never getting there."So, a little bit of shame, I think, for football as much as anything, because you want to see goals in the game, and to disallow that was a shame."Another topic of discussion following the game was Liverpool head coach Slot's decision to keep £125m British transfer record signing Alexander Isak on the bench.The Reds boss was clearly not willing to risk the Sweden international, who had only returned to full training two days previously.And Sky Sports co-commentator Smith said: "I think Isak is not fully fit.