Jamie Carragher is concerned Liverpool will struggle to recover from their opening two results of the new Premier League season in their title fight with Manchester City.
The Reds have drawn both fixtures, against Fulham and Crystal Palace, two teams they were expected to beat. That leaves them four points behind Pep Guardiola's champions, who eased past West Ham and Bournemouth in their opening games.
Manager Jurgen Klopp will be keen for Liverpool to win their next three Premier League games against Manchester United, Bournemouth and Newcastle. They will need to do so without striker Darwin Nunez after his red card against Palace on Monday night. Palace took a shock lead at Anfield through talisman Wilfried Zaha before Nunez was dismissed for violent conduct after the break. Liverpool needed a stunning strike from Luis Diaz to claim a point in the second half, even though they wanted all three.
"It’s been a terrible start for Liverpool points-wise," Carragher told Sky Sports' Monday Night Football after the game. "I actually thought Liverpool were outstanding tonight in the first half before the Palace goal and how they reacted to going down to 10 men.
"Draws are defeats now. We know the bar has been raised so far now by Manchester City and Liverpool in the last few years. You’re giving yourself a tough thing to catch one of the greatest teams we’ve ever seen in the Premier League."
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Liverpool dropped just four points in their final 18 Premier League fixtures last season and still finished one point behind Man City in the title race. Remarkably, Pep Guardiola's side won 29 of their 38 games.
In the last five seasons, the champions have achieved 100, 98, 99, 86 and 93 points. Between the 2012/13 and 2016/17 campaigns, those tallies were 89, 86, 87, 81 and 93 points - such is the difference in the modern game.
It's also interesting to look how many points the runners-up are achieving. Between the 2012/13 and 2016/17 campaigns, they picked up 78, 84, 79, 71 and 86 points. In the last five seasons, those tallies have increased to 81, 97, 81, 74 and 92 points.
Guardiola and Klopp are hugely responsible for these stats. The two managers have pushed each other in four of the last five seasons, with the only exception being Liverpool's injury-hit 2020/21 campaign. The Reds ultimately finished third that season.
Speaking last December, Guardiola claimed teams need 90 points or more to win the Premier League nowadays. "Yeah, the champions will need to win a lot of games for sure, maybe 90 (points) or over," admitted the four-time Premier League winner.
Guardiola went on to say: "Expectations always are higher when you achieve what we achieved. The standards are higher so expectations are higher. We have to work harder and be more conscious of what we have to do and everything we can improve."
