Carragher: Two horse race for title now
Liverpool vice-captain Jamie Carragher believes the title race is now between just two teams after dismissing Chelsea and Arsenal’s chances of winning the Premier League. The Reds, vying for their first league championship since 1990, slipped five points behind leaders Manchester United on Wednesday night after Sir Alex Ferguson's side comfortably saw off Fulham 3-0 at Old Trafford.
But with Arsenal 15 points off the pace and Chelsea having to start again from scratch after appointing a new temporary coach in Guus Hiddink, Carragher believes his club are now the only challengers with a realistic chance of toppling the champions.
“We finished fourth last season," he said. "But we have overtaken Chelsea and Arsenal and even though everyone at the club understands that it’s not over yet by a long way, at the moment it looks like it is going to be us and Manchester United for the title.
“Just by overtaking Chelsea and Arsenal in the challenge is an achievement in itself, so everyone should be proud of that. A lot of people said at the start of the season that we needed to be in the title race at the end and at least be in with a fighting chance. Now hopefully, we can go one step farther and win this title.
“There are still a lot of games to go, so it’s important everyone at the club remains calm. United have a bit of a lead on us at the moment, but if we can close that gap before we go to Old Trafford next month, that would put us in a great position, especially if we are in form at the time of that game.”
And the ever-present Reds stopper, who is approaching his 400th Premier League appearance for the Anfield club, believes the return to fitness and form of talisman Fernando Torres is vital to the club's chances of finally winning another league crown.
“Fernando has been scoring goals recently, but if we can get him back firing like he did at the end of last season, it’s going to be a massive boost," he said.
"Fernando is the best striker in the Premier League, if not the world, so to be where we are already after playing so much of the season without him is a great credit to the lads, staff and management.
"It would be interesting to see how other teams would cope having such an important player on the sidelines for so long.”
LIVERPOOL FANS! Check FourFourTwo.com’s ever-expandinginterviews archivefor more stuff to read:
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Ask A Silly Question John Barnes, Peter Crouch, Luis Garcia, John Aldridge
Perfect XI Jamie Carragher
What Happened Next? Julian Dicks
And Another Thing Being a Big Four fan
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
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