Jamie Carragher rules two huge teams out of Premier League title race
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Maresca has the daunting task of replacing Guardiola (Picture: Getty) Arsenal will be determined to repeat their success of last season (Picture: Getty) ‘Where we are right now, and we know there’s still a month to go transfer-wise, I can only see Arsenal or City,’ Carragher said. ‘There’s a question because he [Maresca] is new to the role but I’m a fan of Maresca in terms of what he does on the pitch, in terms of what happened at Chelsea, in terms of watching him tactically and how he set up. ‘The problems they caused Liverpool at times, when Liverpool won the league under Arne Slot, the two Chelsea games, I was looking at them and thinking, “This fella knows what he’s doing”, and I think he’s very capable at the level he’s coaching at. ‘Whether Arsenal will be a lot better because they’ve got the monkey off their back, I don’t know, but I don’t think City were great for a lot of last season and the title still almost went to the wire. The reason I think City is that I think they were still close last year.
According to the former England international, the Merseyside giants are still lacking two high-quality central defenders and a ‘top’ right winger to replace Mohamed Salah. ‘Right now I don’t think Liverpool are equipped to be thinking about a title,’ he explained. ‘Who knows what’s going to happen over the next month but I don’t think they’re close to that.’ Carragher is ‘scratching his head’ over Liverpool’s interest in Barcola (Picture: Jean Catuffe/DPPI/Shutterstock) Asked if Liverpool signing a top defender would change his mind about Liverpool’s title hopes, Carragher replied: ‘No, it’s more than that. Carragher is a ‘little bit worried’ for his former club (Picture: Getty) ‘I’m a little bit worried but what I would say about Liverpool and the people above is I do almost trust them in terms of over the last decade or so with how they go about their business so I do feel like there must be something up their sleeve.’ Carragher is similarly downbeat about United’s title hopes, despite being impressed with their transfer dealings after a previous ‘obsession’ with bringing in ‘big names’. ‘Manchester United won’t win the league,’ he said. ‘The thing I’ve probably liked about United this summer is it has felt like for years that they’re obsessed with this big name.
Tielemans completed a move from Aston Villa to Old Trafford this summer (Picture: Getty) ‘But what I would say about Manchester United, it doesn’t feel like they’re on this mission to go and get this big name. ‘Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans… sort of what you might think are clever [signings], people not expecting that, something a bit different. ‘It’s not about the name, it’s about what is right for the team and the club, and it feels like United are going down that road which is probably healthy for them because it just felt like it was about spending name, getting the name and keeping the fans happy without any idea of how it was going to work.’ Arsenal were beaten by PSG on penalties in last year’s Champions League final (Picture: Getty) Carragher can envisage a world in which the Champions League becomes a distraction for Arsenal, with Mikel Arteta’s men no doubt still hurting from their painful penalty-shootout defeat to PSG in last year’s final. ‘I just think City with a new manager would be so invested in the Premier League,’ he explained. ‘With Arsenal, I do feel like there will be a thing with the Champions League: they got to the final, they didn’t lose a game in the tournament and they still never won. ‘I have this debate with people and it shouldn’t be a debate but everyone disagrees with me. And I still think, no matter what, they’ve got Erling Haaland up front and you know he’s going to get 30 goals. ‘I still believe with Arsenal that they haven’t got a superstar up front.