Roy Keane has dismissed Liverpool’s Premier League title chances after a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City.
The former Manchester United midfielder gave his thoughts on the Reds’ title credentials during his punditry with Sky Sports.
Goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku saw the Merseysiders consigned to a fifth league defeat in the 2025/26 season.
Did Man City end Liverpool’s Premier League title defence?
Jeremy Doku celebrates after scoring a goal against Liverpool.
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Keane, who had earlier labelled Liverpool ‘dreadful’, was very much of the mind that the result had ended their title defence.
“You can’t be considering Liverpool for the title,” the Irishman said on Sky Sports.
“That was a sore defeat.
“But this reminded me of City of old. They were outstanding. They are back in the mix.”
On paper, one can understand the ex-Premier League star’s point of view, given that we now lag eight points behind Arsenal at the top of the table.
We should consider ourselves fortunate that the Gunners’ 2-2 draw with Sunderland on Saturday means that we head into the international break less than 10 points behind!
It’s a big lead to take with 11 games played – though not a totally unassailable one in our view.
That said, Liverpool need to find some consistency after the break and win their upcoming winnable run of games.
Who do Liverpool play after the international break?
Liverpool’s run of Premier League games after the international break sees them face:
November 22: Nottingham Forest (H)
November 30: West Ham (A)
December 3: Sunderland (H)
December 6: Leeds (A)
December 13: Brighton (H)
What does Arne Slot think about Liverpool’s title hopes?
Arne Slot and Liverpool players look glum at the Etihad Stadium.
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Speaking after the full-time whistle, Arne Slot refused to rule Liverpool out of the title race.
The Dutch head coach told reporters (via Lewis Steele on X): “The last thing I should speak about now is the title race.
“We should focus on getting results. We are eighth.”
Arne Slot: "The last thing I should speak about now is the title race. We should focus on getting results. We are eighth."
— Lewis Steele (@LewisSteele_) November 9, 2025
It’s a fair response from the manager at a time when the league table simply does not present Liverpool at their best heading into the November international break.
Yes, we were subject to some pretty questionable officiating and VAR calls during the defeat at the Etihad, but the Reds looked clearly sub-par compared to Guardiola’s men throughout the 90 minutes.
Is the Premier League table misleading?
It’s worth pointing out that, beyond the eight-point gap from Arsenal in first and the Reds in eighth, things are looking quite tight from second to tenth.
Position Team Points
2nd Man City 22
3rd Chelsea 20
4th Sunderland 19
5th Tottenham 18
6th Aston Villa 18
7th Manchester United 18
8th Liverpool 18
9th Bournemouth 18
10th Crystal Palace 17
Fifth to ninth in the table, including Arne Slot’s Liverpool, are level on 18 points.
Remarkably, only five points separate second place in the Premier League (Man City) from Crystal Palace in tenth place.
Is it still disappointing that we’ve fallen outside of the top four spots with a 3-0 defeat in Manchester? Of course.
But to suggest Liverpool have a full-blown crisis on their hands would also be disingenuous.
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