Liverpool to win English Premier League before Man United

On April 15, not long after Manchester United were ambushed 0-1 by relegation bound West Bromwich Albion, I opined that Liverpool were the second best team in England behind Manchester City, not Manchester United.
Red Devils fans reacted by pointing at the English Premier League table and reciting the oft used refrain, ‘The table does not lie’. They miss the point.
Needless to mention, United went on to clinch second place, six points ahead of Liverpool. But United’s ‘success’ masks systemic pitfalls afflicting the team.
There are multiple facets to measuring a team’s quality/strength. League position is just one of them.
For starters, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are at a more advanced stage of development playing his signature brand ‘heavy metal’ football, than Man United who are not only struggling to play in Jose Mourinho’s image; no one even knows what his philosophy is.
We can point to the 124 goals Liverpool have scored in the Premier League and Champions League, as opposed to United’s 78 in both competitions as evidence Klopp’s full pitch pressing, augured with perpetual motion and creative drive is the brand of football for the future.
On the flip side, United’s defence first, (without a good defence and overly reliant on David De Gea’s brilliance) - even when the opposition is there for the taking, is an approach rooted in the past.
Top coaches in Europe have mastered the art of dismantling cagey sides. It’s the principal reason Vincenzo Montella’s average side went to Old Trafford and put paid to the Red Devils’ European dream.
Secondly, Liverpool tops United in creativity and distribution of goal scoring burden. Whereas PFA and Football Writers Footballer Of the Year Mohammed Salah has understandably hogged the headlines with his 43-goal haul, Liverpool’s 124 goals in the top two competitions have been spread among the front three of Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Phillipe Coutinho before he left.
Player for player, United have the better team. Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial are potentially better than Liverpool’s much vaunted front three.
However, as a unit, they don’t punch their weight. With Klopp also topping Mourinho in player development - all players’ stats are improving year on year; it is easy to envisage Liverpool emerging as Manchester City’s toughest challengers for next season’s EPL title.

Improved defence
United’s principal advantage over Liverpool in the Klopp era has been superior defence. That too is changing. In the 16 Premier League games Liverpool have played since Virgil van Dirk was signed for £75m and Simon Mignolet dropped, Liverpool have conceded just 10 goals - the same as United, and kept nine clean sheets, one more than the record champions.
How the two teams fare in this summer is an all important factor in determining their fate next season. Liverpool ought to reinvest resources accrued from the sale of Coutinho to assuage for the loss of creativity, goals and oomph the Brazilian brought to Anfield. Nabil Keita’s arrival from RB Leipzig more than atones for Emre Can’s imminent departure to Juventus.
In a nutshell, Liverpool are just two or three players away from challenging Manchester City’s presumed hegemony.
The manager is right. The philosophy is correct. Their self -application is spot on and the Kop Army are the world’s most vociferous. Success beckons.