We caught up with former Manchester City and England winger Shaun Wright-Phillips to get his thoughts on the Premier League title race and his old club Chelsea FC.
Wright-Phillips gave his verdict on Manchester City’s hopes of making it four Premier League titles in a row this season, and also spoke about the controversial goalkeeping situation at Arsenal.
The former QPR winger also opened up on what he admires most about Manchester City hit-man Erling Haaland, and delivered his prediction for the Premier League’s top four.
It’s Man City v Liverpool FC this weekend. What have you made of Man City’s start to the season and how do you see this game going?
In comparison to their starts of the last three years, it’s been a very positive start. They’ve played well and they’ve controlled games. I still don’t think they’re at where they normally are at the back-end of the season but they’re playing good football, winning games, and their attackers are scoring goals. So for me, it’s been very positive in that respect.
The game on the weekend is a tricky one. I think Liverpool are starting to find their feet again in a lot of areas, especially with the front three linking up well regardless of what partnership Jurgen Klopp plays up there.
I think it will be an interesting game. Liverpool won’t play the way Chelsea played so I think Man City will have a bit more control of the ball than during the Chelsea game. But I think it’s set up to be a really good game.
No team has ever won the Premier League four times in a row. Do you think Man City have what it takes?
They believe they can, so I’ve got to believe they can. The hunger and desire they’re still showing even after winning the Treble, which is normally the hardest thing, they’ve come off the back of that and started the season in an ‘up’ position.
It’s almost like winning is a drug to them, like an adrenaline rush. They can’t get enough of it. Everyone wants to score and create goals, they work hard for each other. And when you have a manager that wants you to get better all the time and keep learning new and different tactics, and different ways to play their position, you would like to think that it [a fourth title in a row] is possible.
Erling Haaland has scored 17 times already this season. What do you most admire about him as a player?
What really surprises me is how long he can go without touching the ball. When I was playing, if a striker wasn’t getting the ball, they would drop deeper and deeper. Look at Harry Kane at Spurs around four years ago – everyone was saying he needed to be higher up the pitch. He was dropping deep because he wasn’t getting the supply. For Haaland to just go 25 minutes not touching the ball, then get one touch in the box and put it in the back of the net, I think that is an art in itself.
If you give him that chance, he will take it. It doesn’t bother him if he misses. If he misses, he believes he will get another one and that one will go in. That’s the mentality he’s got. He doesn’t lose confidence, he just keeps going and going.
Aaron Ramsdale (Photo: Vitalii Kliuiev / depositphotos.com)
Your old club Chelsea FC drew 4-4 with City last time out. What have you made of Chelsea’s start under Mauricio Pochettino?
It’s been good in certain aspects. You can see they have a way of playing now which nobody could really isolate before. They keep the ball a lot better than they had done since Poch is there – and they’re creating loads and loads of chances. As soon as they start converting them, you’d think they’ll be a massive problem to deal with.
They showed how well they can play against City – now can they do that time and time again? I think when want to be in the top four, that’s basically what you have to replicate, that performance level of consistency.
Chelsea FC are being linked with a move for Ivan Toney in January. Do you think that would be a good move for Chelsea FC and for him?
It’s a hard one because who’s going to get him? I heard Arsenal were interested and now Chelsea, so there might be a bit of a bidding war. I think he’s a fantastic player. I think he would suit both of them because he can offer them another dimension, and he’s also more of an out-and-out number nine who’s hungry for goals and very rarely misses penalties. If you give him a chance, he will put it in the back of the net. He would be a tremendous attribute for either of those teams.
Do you think Chelsea FC need to do much business in the January transfer window?
Do they need to do any more business? I think they’ve got 13 players injured or something like that so you would say they need a number nine. But I still think until those players are fit… Poch hasn’t really yet found his out and out starting 11. He’s struggling to keep people like Ben Chilwell and Reece James fit. You don’t really know how the midfield is going to look. You would suggest they need a number nine type player, especially the way they play.
The major talking point at Arsenal this season has been Mikel Arteta’s decision to play David Raya ahead of Aaron Ramsdale. What do you make of the situation?
I’ll be honest, I was devastated about Ramsdale not being the number one any more. I think, especially in the title race [last season] when the pressure was on, he rarely made any mistakes and his shot-stopping was unbelievable at times.
Goalkeepers will make mistakes – we’ve seen Raya do it already numerous times. In a way, he’s not been punished because he’s not lost his place and in a way Ramsdale has been punished for last season’s mistakes.
It’s a bit of an interesting one but at the same time I understand if that’s how Arteta wants to play – out from the back, aggressive from crosses… As a player, you kind of have to respect that. I’m just interested to see what Ramsdale does from here on. I don’t think there’s been any team who’s had two number one goalkeepers before, so it’s going to be an interesting January.
How do you see the Premier League title race shaping up – what’s your top-four prediction?
I’m loving it at the minute, it’s very open. I think City will still win the league. Not by a massive margin, it will be another tough one.
You’ve got to put Arsenal in there. Spurs I think, have just shown that without certain players they may not pick up the results they actually need. They’ve lost James Maddison who is basically the most creative player in the Premier League. Spurs I think may just miss out on the top four, Man United too. I may put Aston Villa in there as a bit of a dark horse actually. So I’m going to go Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa.
• Shaun Wright-Phillips was speaking to The Sport Review on behalf of NewBettingOffers.co.uk
• This article was updated after publication to correct Shaun Wright-Phillips’ top-four prediction.
