Postpublished at 11:04 GMT
The pundits did not hold back after Liverpool's latest defeat...
Summary
Premier League reaction, analysis and your views
Arsenal beat Crystal Palace to extend lead to four points
Manchester City down to fifth after losing at Aston Villa
Chelsea and Liverpool also lose over the weekend
Bournemouth beat Forest to rise to second, Tottenham up to third after winning at Everton
Struggling Wolves still without a win at losing to Burnley
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Are Liverpool & Man City still Arsenal's main title challengers?
Postpublished at 11:04 GMT
Liverpool 'didn't do the basics right' - Slotpublished at 11:02 GMT
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Liverpool head coach Arne Slot was in reflective mood as he spoke with BBC Match of the Day after Saturday's defeat to Brentford, describing it as a "disappointing" result and performance:
"Conceding three goals is far too much if you want to win a game of football. First one was a set-piece. Second is a counter-attack which is one of the things [Brentford] are really good at. We didn't defend that at all."
On four defeats in a row: "What I have to do is look at what we do wrong and what we do right. I have a clear idea of where we have to improve, but that hasn't been the case in other games. We didn't do the basics right."
Media caption, Liverpool couldn't get the basics right - Slot
Champions suffer another setbackpublished at 10:59 GMT
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
So what is going on with the champions?
Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Brentford leaves the Reds in seventh place, seven points behind leaders Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Brentford's impressive victory means Keith Andrews' side are just two points behind, in 11th, after collecting their fourth win of the campaign - and third in their past four games.
Image source, Getty ImagesOmens not good for Liverpoolpublished at 10:57 GMT
With their defeat to Brentford on Saturday, Liverpool became the fourth defending Premier League champions to lose four matches in a row.
The bad news is that none of the previous three sides recovered to retain their title.
The only team in Europe’s top five leagues that is on a worse losing run than the Reds is Germany’s St Pauli, who have lost five on the spin in the Bundesliga.
Postpublished at 10:54 GMT
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Liverpool are the first team in English top-flight history to win their opening five matches of a season and then lose their next four.
The Reds have already lost as many Premier League games this season as they did in the entirety of last season (four).
It is the first time since February 2021 that they have lost four consecutive league games.
Their previous four defeats in the competition before this current run came across a run of 47 matches (W32 D11).
Image source, Getty ImagesDefending champions' dip continuespublished at 10:49 GMT
Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Comparing Aston Villa's season so far with their next opponents, Liverpool, is interesting.
It's like they have experienced a reversal of fortunes.
Villa could not buy a win in their opening matches but have now won four Premier League games in a row, while Liverpool won their opening five league matches but results have since nosedived - losing their next four.
The defending champions' latest defeat - at Brentford - was potentially their most troubling, with serious flaws exposed in their defence and questions starting to be asked about manager Arne Slot's tactics.
Liverpool's losing run:
- Liverpool 4-2 Bournemouth
- Newcastle 2-3 Liverpool
- Liverpool 1-0 Arsenal
- Burnley 0-1 Liverpool
- Liverpool 2-1 Everton
- Crystal Palace 2-1 Liverpool
- Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
- Liverpool 1-2 Man Utd
- Brentford 3-2 Liverpool
Image source, Getty Imagesget involved Get Involved - 'The unpredictability that makes the Premier League so compelling'published at 10:44 GMT
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The beauty of football is the human element where a mistake or a piece of luck can alter the course of any match, so I wouldn't place any reliance on the predictions of an Opta 'super computer'. It is the unpredictability that makes the Premier League so compelling.
Clive
Villa's revival continuespublished at 10:41 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Media caption, Villa took advantage of unexpected Man City team sheet - Murphy
Manchester City may have built up a head of steam going into Sunday's match at Aston Villa, but, then again, so had the hosts.
It took Unai Emery's side until 25 September to win a match in any competition, but they have used their 1-0 Europa League victory at home to Bologna as a launchpad for a remarkable transformation.
They have gone on to win four games in a row in the Premier League, starting with their 3-1 victory at home to Fulham.
Villa now look to have got the frustration of missing out on Champions League qualification on the final day of last season well and truly out of their system.
Their next match? Away to a Liverpool...
Villa's Premier League revival:
- Aston Villa 0-0 Newcastle
- Brentford 1-0 Aston Villa
- Aston Villa 0-3 Crystal Palace
- Everton 0-0 Aston Villa
- Sunderland 1-1 Aston Villa
- Aston Villa 3-1 Fulham
- Aston Villa 2-1 Burnley
- Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa
- Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
get involved Get Involved - 'Doubts about Arsenal centre on their mentality'published at 10:38 GMT
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Both Liverpool and Manchester City will be there as they have the squads and experience. A surprise package will also be there. Doubts about Arsenal centre on their mentality. Whoever stands up and wants it more will be the champion.
Michael
City and Liverpool are the only teams that are able to challenge Arsenal, and they look like they are way behind than they would expect right now. The rest are fighting for scraps.
Steve
Man City's upcoming fixturespublished at 10:34 GMT
It's true that the pressure cranks up in the title race in April, Henry, but dropped points before the turn of the year can leave teams with a mountain to climb.
Games are coming thick and fast for Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City side, with domestic and European challenges piling up.
The good news for City is they have four home matches in their next six - returning to Etihad Stadium this weekend to host high-flying Bournemouth in the Premier League after a midweek EFL Cup tie at Swansea.
- 29 Oct: Swansea (A)
- 01 Nov: Bournemouth (H)
- 05 Nov: Borussia Dortmund (H)
- 08 Nov: Liverpool (H)
- 22 Nov: Newcastle (A)
- 26 Nov: Bayer Leverkusen (H)
get involved Get Involved - 'Title race starts in late March/April'published at 10:31 GMT
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Yes they [Arsenal] probably will be [champions], but all this talk of title races being pushed by media is premature and just for clicks. Ask Pep, Klopp, Fergie. The title race starts in late March/April, before is putting yourself in a position to be in that race come April.
Henry
'You'll have to ask him'published at 10:26 GMT
On the fitness of Erling Haaland after the Norway striker collided with a post at Villa Park, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola did little to quell concern in his post-match interview with the BBC.
When asked about his condition, Guardiola shrugged and replied: "You'll have to ask him."
Image source, Getty ImagesMissed opportunity as Haaland blanks - analysispublished at 10:22 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Shamoon Hafez
Football news reporter at Villa ParkManchester City started brightly but tailed off after conceding and without the 15-goal Erling Haaland taking his chances, no-one else was able to step up and grab the scoring mantle.
The Norway striker failed to score in only his second game for club and country this season and thought he had claimed a dramatic late leveller, only for the offside flag to go up against Omar Marmoush who crossed low for Haaland to squeeze a finish over the line.
There was concern when he collided heavily with the post following his disallowed effort and City can ill-afford to have their star man ruled out for any period of time.
Image source, Getty Imagesget involved Get Involved - 'Liverpool and City want to be called challengers, they need to start winning games'published at 10:17 GMT
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Are Liverpool and Manchester City still Arsenal's main challengers? No, because neither of them are in second place. We need to stop disrespecting "smaller" teams who are high up the table on merit. If Liverpool and City want to be called challengers, they need to start winning games. Simple as that.
Callum
Guardiola's 50th defeat - what the stats saypublished at 10:13 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
- Pep Guardiola has suffered his 50th Premier League defeat in his 351st game, with only Sir Alex Ferguson taking charge of more matches to reach a half-century of losses in the competition (367).
- Manchester City have lost three of their opening nine games in the Premier League this season (W5 D1), with the Cityzens last suffering more defeats at this stage of a league campaign in 2008-09 (four).
Man City's momentum stallspublished at 10:04 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Image source, Getty ImagesManchester City had started to gather momentum after recovering from back-to-back defeats - to Tottenham and Brighton - in the opening month of their season.
Pep Guardiola's side bounced back with a resounding 3-0 win at home to rivals Manchester United before battling to a 1-1 draw at Arsenal.
Three consecutive wins followed - against Burnley, Brentford and Everton - before they suffered their third defeat of the season at Aston Villa.
Man City's first nine games:
- Wolves 1-4 Man City
- Man City 0-2 Tottenham
- Brighton 2-1 Man City
- Man City 3-0 Man Utd
- Arsenal 1-1 Man City
- Man City 5-1 Burnley
- Brentford 0-1 Man City
- Man City 2-0 Everton
- Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
get involved Get Involved - 'Festive period is a better marker than Halloween week'published at 10:00 GMT
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Let's NOT forget that the season ends in May 2026 - not Halloween week! City, Liverpool, Bournemouth, AV, AND Spurs are all in with a shout but - big 'but ' - the festive/new year periods are a better marker than now. Time will tell.
Carolyn
'We are feeling here so, so good' - what Emery saidpublished at 09:53 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Aston Villa's impressive home record was not lost on manager Unai Emery in his post-match comments to BBC's Match of the Day:
"Our fortress. Villa Park. We are feeling here so, so good. The positive energy to us was fantastic. We needed to show our wishes and commitment, and our capacity to play.
"I think everything trying to get together, the positive energy, the quality of the players, the tactics that we did and the effort. I am so proud. How the supporters are pushing us is very, very important."
Media caption, Villa feeling good at 'fortress' Villa Park - Emery
get involved Get Involved - 'Villa simply the better team'published at 09:42 GMT
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I'm a Manchester City fan but I just want to take a second to say well done to Villa last night. A lot of talk of us "dropping behind" but Villa were simply the better team. Nullified our attack and created better chances, Brilliant atmosphere at Villa Park too, Kudos.
Harry
Fortress Villa Park?published at 09:38 GMT
Aston Villa 1-0 Man City
Pep Guardiola had warned in the run-up to Sunday's defeat at Aston Villa that it was one of the hardest games his Manchester City side would face this season.
That opinion was certainly not baseless.
Aston Villa have now lost just two of their past 24 Premier League home games since the start of last season (won 14, drawn eight).
No ever-present side has lost fewer home matches in the competition across that period (Liverpool and Arsenal, also two).
Image source, Getty Images
