Southampton2 - 3Liverpool

Liverpool's win against Southampton on Sunday has made the Reds clear favourites for the Premier League title and was a sign that Arne Slot's side are ready to be champions, Reds expert David Lynch has argued.

After Manchester City's humiliating 4-0 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, many thought that Slot's team would brush aside last-placed Southampton and go eight points clear of Pep Guardiola's team.

However, while the Reds ultimately claimed all three points, they encountered numerous difficulties against the Saints and only won thanks to Mohamed Salah's 83rd-minute penalty.

The result means that Liverpool have accumulated 31 points from a possible 36, and Lynch believes that their performance last Sunday was of little consequence, telling Sports Mole: "I thought [Liverpool] were quite poor up until Southampton go 2-1 up, and where big credit comes out after is that [the team were] phenomenal for 30 minutes.

"It just felt like after [Liverpool] go 2-2 - through a sheer moment of quality from Gravenberch and Salah - it just felt like a certainty that they were going to win the game in the end.

"We talk about [it being a] sign of champions, winning when you're not playing well, that's not true if it consistently happens but I think Liverpool have deserved to win every game they've won so far this season, and this is one where probably on that first 60 [minutes they] didn't deserve to win, but in the end actually ran out deserved winners."

Clear favourites

Many have been reluctant to label Liverpool favourites given Manchester City's pedigree in the league and their tendency to start somewhat slowly before gaining momentum as the season progresses.

However, should Liverpool beat City next weekend, the Reds would go 11 points ahead of the champions after just 13 matchweeks, and the Merseysiders are already nine clear of Mikel Arteta's Arsenal.

Even taking Guardiola's side's previous slow starts into consideration, City have looked unusually vulnerable, with the team on track to face 117 big chances in the Premier League this season.

For context, the most big chances City have faced in one campaign under Guardiola was 60 in 2023-24, and their record of 37 big chances faced is already more than they conceded in the entirety of 2016-17 and 2017-18.

When speaking to Sports Mole, Lynch argued that the points gap has become so large that it would be disappointing were they to not finish first, saying: "I think they would be extremely disappointed not to win it from here. It's still late November, there's a long way to go, still 26 games.

"These kinds of leads are so big that it does get to a point where [it's] very hard outside of a collapse to give it up.

"They've got to recalibrate [their] aims on the evidence that [we've] seen. Liverpool should be massive title favourites and I think they should embrace that, and I think particularly as well because their title rivals have got problems."

Can Liverpool go all the way?

Many had thought it impossible to emulate the success that Jurgen Klopp achieved at Anfield, but Slot has so far made a mockery of those who doubted his appointment.

Indeed, the Dutchman's performance as manager has been remarkable given he is utilising practically the same squad that Liverpool had last season, barring backup forward Federico Chiesa.

The Reds were in contention for the title in 2023-24 but fell away towards the end of the campaign and watched on as City and Arsenal fought for the Premier League trophy.

Perhaps by building such a commanding lead, Liverpool are better placed to stay in the title race, and history bodes well for them considering the two teams that have led by eight points at this stage of the Premier League season - Manchester City in 2017-18 and Liverpool in 2019-20 - and were crowned champions.

Lynch was keen to point out that the Reds still have a number of vastly experienced players on their roster, and when speaking to Sports Mole about their chances of glory this season, he said: "I think Liverpool have got all the tools to go deep in the title race.

"They've [got] a lot of these players that have won the league, and the ones who haven't have been in title races - they were top after 30 games last season - so you know the capability is there to [compete].

"Go make the most of it and go out and keep winning games, because I think when you get a lead like this, you can't wrap this up as anything other than disappointing if [they] don't go and convert this now."

Sports Mole editor Barney Corkhill spoke with Liverpool expert David Lynch to discuss Liverpool's victory against Southampton last Sunday, and to analyse whether the Reds are now favourites to win the Premier League title.

Press play on the video at the top of this article to hear the full discussion.