Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been a fantastic side to watch this season, and have put in some performances that have left you wondering how they are not 10 points clear at the top of the table.
Instead you could argue that they are now out of the title race after a run of two points from the past three games, culminating in Saturday's shock 3-2 home defeat to relegation-threatened Swansea City.
Liverpool are the league’s top scorers with 51 goals, and have scored four goals in matches on four occasions, five goals once and six goals once.
They have the firepower to blow sides away, yet they struggle against the league’s lesser lights.
Liverpool are undefeated against their top six rivals and yet have lost against Burnley, Bournemouth and Swansea and dropped points against struggling Sunderland.
You can blame the defence, which has conceded almost twice as many as league leaders Chelsea and second-placed Tottenham Hotspur, while the absence of Sadio Mane to the Africa Cup of Nations has also had an effect.
Last month they threw away a 3-1 lead at Bournemouth with 15 minutes remaining to lose 4-3 Bournemouth and were beaten by a Swansea side that had recently conceded three times against Middlesbrough, West Ham United and Bournemouth.
Attitude could be a problem, more specifically overconfidence. Klopp must take some of the blame for that.
Title-winning teams just don’t throw away two-goal leads. It is the clearest difference between Liverpool and Chelsea.
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Should City plan for life without Aguero?
There are reports in the British press this weekend suggesting this might be Sergio Aguero’s last season at Manchester City.
At a first glance, it is hard to see why City would want to lose their star striker. He has scored an incredible 154 goals in 230 games in all competitions for the club since joining in 2011. That kind of return is hard to replace.
But the Argentine turns 29 this summer and has suffered long injury layoffs during his time at City. Add to that the statistic that only three of his past 39 goals have come against top six opposition and maybe Aguero is not quite as important to City as it seems.
Manager Pep Guardiola has already written off this season's title race, and his signings last summer suggest a club that is building its next great team around talented young players such as John Stones, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus.
Maybe it makes sense to cash in on Aguero, especially if the likes of Real Madrid are willing to pay a premium.
For Palace read Benteke
Christian Benteke epitomises Crystal Palace: his statistics read great but too often the Belgian striker fails to impress.
Palace have a squad packed with fine individual players, but still have not won under new manager Sam Allardyce and are now in the bottom three following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Everton.
Likewise Benteke has every attribute to dominate Premier League defences: big, fast, and a good finisher off either foot. But the sight of him ambling towards the area as his winger races down the wing and crosses to nobody has been a common this season.
It sums up his team – they lack killer instinct. February is set to be a huge month for Palace’s survival chances, with home games against Sunderland and Middlesbrough. They need to improve.
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