"No doubt" - Jamie Carragher confident that Liverpool can still challenge for the Premier League title

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes that the Reds can still challenge for the Premier League title despite a rocky start to the 2022-23 season.

Liverpool have won only two of their six Premier League fixtures this season and are currently seventh in the league table with nine points. They have a large gap to bridge to catch up to rivals Manchester City, who find themselves in second place with 14 points, one point behind leaders Arsenal.

Carragher believes his former club needs to turn a corner in terms of performance, criticizing the Reds' mediocre start to the campaign. However, the Englishman still insists that the Merseyside outfit are not yet out of the title race.

The pundit told the Daily Mail (via Football365):

“They can still challenge for the Premier League, no doubt. But in terms of turning a corner it needs more than one game. There have been five or six games where Liverpool have been nowhere near their best."

Referring to the Reds' emphatic 2-1 victory over Ajax at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League on September 14, he added:

"[Against Ajax] there was a typical Jurgen Klopp Liverpool performance, but I think they will need more than one game. You need to see the next four or five games to see if Liverpool are back on track. But it was nice to see Liverpool back to their best."

The Reds ran riot at Anfield as they secured a victory over Ajax, with Mohamed Salah and Joel Matip adding their names to the scoresheet.

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Carragher further comments on Liverpool's title prospects

Carragher went on to offer his opinion on the form of the Merseyside outfit's star players when speaking about the side's title prospects.

The former Reds centre-half believes the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah have not been at their best this season. However, Carragher insists that a dip in form is bound to happen after playing at such high levels consistently for years.

He proclaimed:

"You have got a team who have been at the top of their game for five or six years and maybe they have come off that slightly in terms of intensity and that is what the team is built on. Intensity is the identity of that team. They have had injuries and three of four players – who have been outstanding – have not been playing at their best."

Carragher added Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho in the list of players who have been at the top of their games for a few years. He said:

“Maybe Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, maybe Fabinho in midfield, Mo Salah, these players have been out of this world for four or five years and they haven’t been at their best at the start of this season, but that is allowed, it is normal. They are only human. We have all been there as players."

He concluded:

“I think it is a combination of those three factors. Players off form off the back of five or six years being at 100 per cent intensity and injuries. They are just not quite there.”

Salah has scored four goals and provided three assists in nine matches in all competitions for Liverpool this season. Alexander-Arnold, meanwhile, has scored two goals in nine matches.