Club World Cup: Liverpool celebrate their win in dressing room
The Premier League title race is “done” according to Alan Shearer, who believes Liverpool cannot be caught with five months of the season remaining. The Reds’ hold on this season’s trophy was strengthened on Saturday night without them even playing in the competition.
While Liverpool became Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history by defeating Flamengo in extra-time in Qatar, title rivals Manchester City and Leicester pitted wits at the Etihad.
The home side were vying to close the gap on Liverpool to 11 points whereas the second-placed Foxes had the opportunity to go within seven points of the table-toppers.
Leicester took the lead through Jamie Vardy but were soon pegged back as Riyah Mahrez cut inside from the right and fired home via Caglar Soyuncu’s left boot.
Ilkay Gundogan then put the defending champions ahead from the penalty spot after Raheem Sterling was tripped by Ricardo Pereira, and a magical assist from Kevin de Bruyne teed up Gabriel Jesus late on to seal the victory.
Alan Shearer makes Premier League title prediction as Liverpool move another step closer (Image: Getty/BBC)
The result meant Liverpool’s lead was not reduced heading into Christmas Day, which they enter with a 10-point buffer with a game in hand.
Shearer, who won the Premier League with Blackburn in 1995, was asked on Match of the Day whether City’s 3-1 win had all but secured Liverpool their first top-flight title in 30 years.
“Yeah, I think it’s done,” said the division’s all-time top goalscorer.
“Leicester have had a remarkable season, 10 points clear of Chelsea in fourth.
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“After that, when one team (Liverpool) plays 70 games and has 60 victories and one draw - hats off.
“We have one less point than [Real] Madrid and Barcelona - they are leading in Spain.
“The games and the results in the way we played it was quite good this season.
“But maybe we missed this kind of energy we had today with our fans. We know that is our identity and if we are able to do it we can compete with everyone.”