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Carragher believes a Premier League title race may have come "one year too soon" for Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp's side were way off the pace last campaign and ended up 22 points adrift of eventual champions City
A midfield revamp has resulted in the Reds bouncing back from their fifth-placed finish in style
City, spearheaded by Norwegian goal machine Erling Haaland, remain the favourites to come out on top once again
Carragher has conceded it is hard to look past the Sky Blues despite their shock defeat at Wolves last weekend.
Carragher
"It might be a year too soon,"
"I still just think City have got the edge, defensively. I don’t think there is a real weakness in their team.
"It’s whether De Bruyne is out for a while. They lost Gundogan, who was a massive player for them, and they will miss that at some stage. Of course they will."
Carragher continued:
"It's whether going to the Club World Cup, with the extra trips and games, will have an impact. Europa League games are going to be less intense for Liverpool compared to Champions League matches.
"If Man City are going a long way in Europe and Liverpool do the same in the Europa, could Jurgen Klopp use his squad more rather than having to play their best team constantly? That could be in Liverpool’s favour.
"Liverpool have got to get to January and see where they are, you never know."
Asked if his former club have been wrongly underestimated, Carragher said:
“Yeah, and I think maybe I did as well. It was a whole new midfield and you didn’t know how it was going to start.
"That’s why there was a bit of scepticism. But it looks like we could put a challenge up.
"We will have to see how we are once you come out of the November international break as Liverpool will have played 12 games by then and will have a clear idea of where they are and what they are going to do.
"The start we’ve made really bodes well, the only game we have lost is a game we don’t lose if it’s 11 versus 11 against Tottenham.
"There is excitement that we are seeing a new team under Jurgen Klopp. For me, it would be great to get top four, a trophy and go for it [the title] next year.
"We still need a holding midfielder, for me, as Mac Allister is not that. He is a good player, but he is not that.
"Hopefully that can be changed in January, there is a lot of talk of Andre of Fluminense. If that’s who they want, it would be great if they can reinforce in January."
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