Despite Liverpool’s obvious resurgence under Jurgen Klopp, they have still only managed to win the Premier League once since 1989/90 with that solitary title victory coming in 2019/20.
They have, of course, had two incredible seasons where they finished runners-up to Manchester City with points totals that would have won them the title on many other occasions.
In fact, their points total of 97 in 2018/19 was the highest ever tally to not win the top-flight crown, with their only defeat that season coming against the Sky Blues.
So, what do Liverpool have to do to topple Manchester City in 2022/23?
New faces in, old faces out
The 2021/22 season was another close call for Liverpool as they once again finished as runner-up to Manchester City by a solitary point, with Pep Guardiola’s men coming back from two goals down on the final day of the season to seal a remarkable 3-2 victory against Aston Villa.
Liverpool, in fact, lost only two games all season – away at West Ham and away at Leicester – and at one point, we were on course for a remarkable quadruple after they won the League Cup and FA Cup.
Sadly, it was not to be, as they ended up losing out on the title to the incumbent champions and then, a week later, suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League final, bringing what promised to be a record-breaking season to a disappointing end.
After the disappointment of missing out on the league and Champions League, the Reds regrouped and decided it was time for a freshen-up in personnel in their quest for their 20th league title.
It has definitely been a case of out with the old and in with the new as nine first-team squad members were sold or released with just three players joining the club by the start of the season.
Of those released, Sadio Mane was the biggest name to leave the side after a tremendously successful six years with the club in which he scored 90 goals in 196 appearances across all competitions.
Mane left for Bayern Munich for a reported fee of £30m and was quickly replaced by Darwin Nunez from Benfica who was brought in for a fee of around £64m.
Other big-name departures included Neco Williams, sold to Premier League newcomers Nottingham Forest; Takumi Minaminio, sold to Monaco; and Ben Davies who left for Rangers in Scotland.
Joining our No.27 at Liverpool are attacking midfielder Fabio Carvalho from Fulham and right-back Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen.
What about Manchester City?
As Liverpool looks to close the gap on City this season, fans will have to wait and see whether the upheaval in the squad is enough to overturn the one-point deficit from last season.
For Liverpool and all title rivals, the Cityzens are once again looking like the team to beat and have made some significant changes to their own squad over the summer break.
The most notable arrival is Erling Haaland. One of the most touted prospects in Europe, Manchester City took full advantage of the Norwegian’s release clause, snapping him up from Borussia Dortmund for just £54m – a bargain for one of the best young players in the world.
The free-scoring striker is joined at the Etihad by defensive midfielder Kalvin Phillips – signed from Leeds for £42m – as fellow striker Julian Alvarez who joined from River Plate in Argentina.
There have been some notable departures from Manchester this summer as well, however.
Raheem Sterling has left to join title rivals Chelsea whilst Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have both left to join Arsenal as they look to build a squad capable of challenging for the title this season.
Will Liverpool sign anyone else?
Despite limited time remaining in the transfer window, there is still a possibility that Liverpool will look to bring in more new faces as they look to overturn City.
Heavily linked with moves to Liverpool this summer have been the trio of Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, Jarrod Bowen from West Ham and Serge Gnabry from Bayern Munich.
Bellingham seems the most likely to join with some bookies rating Liverpool as 3/1 favourites to sign Bellingham, although many believe this is more likely to happen next summer with Dortmund already losing star player Haaland in this window.
Can Liverpool win the title in 2022-23?
This is going to be one of the most unusual seasons on record with the Premier League taking a break from mid-November to late December to accommodate the FIFA World Cup being held in Qatar.
There is no knowing how this disruption will affect teams in the Premier League and how injuries at the World Cup might impact the return of the season after Christmas.
Liverpool have not helped themselves with a sluggish start to the season, however, they will still be confident that they can challenge City and take them all the way again this season.
The bookies don’t currently fancy Liverpool to win the league this season, however. Betway Sports has Liverpool at 6.00 to win the league this season with City priced at just 1.36 and whilst bookies have been wrong on many occasions, it feels like this is going to be another season of disappointment for Liverpool in their quest for a 20th league title.
The post How can Liverpool topple Manchester City in 2022/23? appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
