Michael Owen believes Liverpool face a battle to secure a place in the top four and expressed his disappointment that his old club are out of the title race already.
Liverpool's Champions League hopes suffered a huge setback after they were beaten away at Brentford on Monday night. The defeat at the Gtech Community Stadium also ended any hopes Jurgen Klopp’s side had of challenging for the title.
Ibrahima Konate scored an own goal to give Brentford the lead before Yoane Wissa added a second after 42 minutes. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reduced the arrears after the break, but Bryan Mbeumo sealed all three points for the hosts six minutes from time.
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Liverpool are now four points behind fourth-placed Manchester United in the table, and a whopping 15 points behind leaders Arsenal. And Owen believes consistency is going to be the biggest challenge facing the Reds as they battle to finish in the Champions League places.
“I started this show by saying I fancy Liverpool to get into the top four, but after today it is a bit of a worry,” he told Premier League Productions.
“But I still think they are one of the four best Premier League teams in the competition, but consistency. The worst thing is after 16 games for Liverpool now, they are out of the title race. They can’t win the league, can they?
“That’s something you think, Liverpool, after the recent years they have had, they have always taken it to the wire. They have always been up there challenging. But after 16 games all talk is about can they get into the top four. It is a real big worry for them.
“Of course they are in other competitions, but the Premier League is what you are judged on, it is what they want to win more than anything else and they are out of that title race already, in my opinion.”
Owen was also left shocked by Harvey Elliott’s attempted dummy that led to Brentford’s second goal three minutes before the interval. It was one of the last acts by the 19-year-old, who was one of three substitutions made at the break by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.
He said: “This is straight after a disallowed goal. I don’t know for the life of me in your third what Harvey Elliott is doing there?
“Letting the ball go between his legs. He can’t have had a shout. It was never ever on. Then, all of a sudden, they get outnumbered at the back post and it’s 2-0 and a mountain to climb.”
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