Alexis Mac Allister can have a footballing eloquence. His job involves reading the game. He is an elegant realist of a footballer but he may have underestimated a team. His own. “Ask me before the season I wouldn’t say we were [title] candidates but now it looks like so we are,” said the World Cup winner. With a five-point lead at the third international break, it is increasingly undeniable.
Are they favourites? They wouldn’t say so, and not merely because they have appointed a manager less likely to make headlines with his rhetoric. Liverpool have the experience of spending more days top of the table last season than anyone else. It felt a footnote when Manchester City became champions again.
