By Oyinlola Awonuga (The New Diplomat’s Entertainment, Style and Sports Desk)
Liverpool’s Mid-fielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has said losing out on the title to Manchester City by a point gave Liverpool ‘heightened respect’ for Pep Guardiola’s side. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain said Man City’s 2019 title win spurred Liverpool on. The Reds are 25 points clear at the top of the Premier League table this season. Liverpool got 97 points last year but missed the trophy by a single point to City.
Despite being clear leaders now, Oxlade-Chamberlain still feels ‘it isn’t finished’ However, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain admits losing out on the Premier League title to Manchester City last season helped inspire Liverpool to greater heights in 2019-20.
The Midfielder also warned team-mates that title race STILL isn’t over yet (despite Reds being 25 points clear!).Jurgen Klopp’s side amassed 97 points in 2018-19 and yet while it was a near faultless campaign, Pep Guardiola’s City side won away to Brighton on the final day to clinch back-to-back titles, leaving Liverpool’s players and supporters devastated at having come so close.
But Oxlade-Chamberlain believes that the experience provided the players with a ‘heightened respect’ for their counterparts at City stressing that that itself has been key in raising expectations this season, as they currently sit top and clearly atop of the rest by 25 points.
Manchester City amassed 98 points to go and make it back-to-back league titles last season. He said: ‘Mentally, as a group of players, I think that’s maybe where we thought, Alright, 97 points not good enough” and I remember the manager saying we’ve got to do more. Simple as that.‘He was adamant that’s not enough, you’ve got to do more, and I think it’s a credit to us in what we’ve done so far this season.’’
Liverpool are ahead of their rivals having lost just once in the league this season. The Liverpool and England midfielder admits they had ‘heightened respect’ for Guardiola.
