Alan Shearer has warned that Liverpool\u2019s Premier League title hopes are hanging by a thread ahead of their clash with Aston Villa this weekend, describing the match as a \u201cdo-or-die\u201d moment for Arne Slot\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s once-promising start to their title defence has completely fallen apart over the past month, with defeats to Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Brentford leaving them reeling. After topping the table and maintaining a perfect record following their 2\u20130 win over Everton on September 20, the Reds have now slipped to seventh place \u2014 seven points adrift of leaders Arsenal.<\/p>\n
They now face an in-form Aston Villa side on a four-match winning streak, which includes impressive victories over Tottenham (2\u20131) and Manchester City (1\u20130).<\/p>\n
Shearer believes Liverpool must win to keep their title dreams alive. \u201cIf they lose on Saturday, I don\u2019t see them in the title race,\u201d he told Betfair. \u201cIf they win, build confidence, and go on a run, they\u2019ve still got the quality to compete. But Saturday evening is massive \u2014 another defeat, and I think they\u2019re out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pressure is mounting after six defeats in their last seven games across all competitions, including a dismal 3\u20130 loss at home to Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup. Despite growing frustration among supporters, Shearer dismissed suggestions that Slot\u2019s job is under threat, insisting that talk of a sacking would be an overreaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cSlot did a great job last year,\u201d he said. \u201cHe inherited a strong squad, and although they didn\u2019t add much in the summer, he still led them to the title. Right now, it\u2019s not a crisis \u2014 but it\u2019s definitely a sticky situation. If Villa win at Anfield, then we might have to call it a crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shearer also criticised Slot\u2019s team selection in the Palace defeat, calling it a \u201cgamble that backfired.\u201d However, he admitted it could be justified if Liverpool respond with back-to-back wins this week.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Shearer believes everything hinges on Saturday\u2019s result: \u201cIf they win, confidence will return. But if they lose, they can forget about the title.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alan Shearer has warned that Liverpool\u2019s Premier League title hopes are hanging by a thread ahead of their clash with Aston Villa this weekend, describing the match as a \u201cdo-or-die\u201d moment for Arne Slot\u2019s side. Liverpool\u2019s once-promising start to their title defence has completely fallen apart over the past month, with defeats to Crystal Palace, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":53401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/103476713-0-image-a-15_1761909126212.avif","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53402,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53400\/revisions\/53402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/53401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}