Rio Ferdinand has praised Liverpool’s performance against Man City this weekend but has taken an indirect dig at Arsenal in the process.
Liverpool got back to winning ways with a narrow 1-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s side.
Mohamed Salah’s second-half strike was the difference between the two sides in a hotly contested battle.
Ferdinand has been quick to praise Liverpool’s attitude towards the match.
He explained on his YouTube channel: “What I saw at the weekend. Forget Liverpool or City, that was a high, high level of game.
“That was back to last season’s level of football between the two teams where you go ‘woah.’ This is two teams who are tactically at their best, two teams that are physically at their best and two teams that aren’t playing with a handbrake.”
Despite Arsenal currency sitting top of the table, Ferdinand believes Liverpool are the only side that can stand up to City.
He added: “Liverpool are the only team capable or have the guts to go toe-to-toe with this City team, Klopp and the confidence he instils in this team he’ll play Milner against Foden and he’ll put in a performance.”
Liverpool and Man City have been the dominant forces in English football for quite some time now.
Arsenal will have something to say about those comments though.
Mikel Arteta’s side currently sit four points clear of Man City and have been excellent so far.
Despite their brilliant start to the season, it does seem as if some pundits are still reluctant to take them seriously.
Gary Neville was quick to dismiss Arsenal’s title hopes at the weekend.
Neville explained: “I still think they [Man City] will [run away with it], I still think they will and today won’t change it, this was a freak game playing at Anfield.
“For City, it’s the most difficult game they have. I do think City will run away with it. Arsenal will come back towards Tottenham, Chelsea, United, Newcastle. I do think City will go away.
“This season is a very different season as well. Post-World Cup it could be completely different than it is now.”
Under Arteta, Arsenal have proven that they can win matches by grinding out results.
They had to ride their luck at times against Leeds, but they managed to escape with all three points.
Arteta’s side are back in Europa League action in midweek before they face Southampton at the weekend.
Plenty of pundits are happy to discount Arsenal’s title chances at the moment, but they don’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon.
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