It's almost March and we're heading into the business end of the 2023-24 European club season, with all major trophies (bar England's Carabao Cup) still in the balance. When it comes to the Premier League, we actually have a three-team title race, with Liverpool (last winners in 2019-20), Manchester City (winners in five of the past six seasons) and Arsenal (last winners in 2003-04) separated by just two points with 12 games to play.
All three teams are still active in Europe, too -- Man City and Arsenal in the Champions League, Liverpool in the Europa League -- and with injuries and fatigue kicking in as they compete on multiple fronts, this is as dramatic a race as we've had in years. So, with some huge games on the horizon in March and April, plus pros/cons for all three teams, we're breaking down where the race goes from here.
Liverpool | First place | 60 points (26 games)
What's working
Liverpool's greatest strength right now, the sense of purpose and unity that has been forged by the announcement of Jurgen Klopp's summer exit as manager, could have been their biggest weakness. And it could yet turn out to be that.
Klopp has been a transformative figure at Anfield since arriving as manager in October of 2015. Nobody -- player or manager -- comes close to matching Klopp at Liverpool in the Premier League era, and the shock news of his plans to quit at the end of the season could have damaged morale at the club and led to a decline in results. But since Klopp's decision became public at the end of January, Liverpool have won seven of their eight games (all competitions) and have won the first of a possible four trophies by lifting the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool are now on a "Klopp countdown" until his last day, and it has energised the players and fans to give that extra 1 percent -- it could be the difference between a glorious departure and a disappointing one.