Liverpool icon Robbie Fowler has laid bare why he reckons his former side are already out of the Premier League title race this campaign. The Merseyside outfit sit eighth in the table following their 3-0 defeat to Manchester City ahead of the international break.

The Etihad defeat means Liverpool have now suffered five league losses this term and collected just 18 points from 11 matches.

The reverse also means the Reds have already exceeded the number of defeats they endured during their title-winning campaign last season (four).

Arne Slot's men trail leaders Arsenal by eight points with 27 fixtures remaining this term, but may already be prioritising Champions League qualification instead.

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Consequently, Fowler has outlined why he believes the points gap between Liverpool and Arsenal already puts the title beyond the Reds' grasp, reports the Liverpool Echo.

"The manager will come out and he'll say all of the right things, and you can't say 'we've given up' cause that looks terrible from an outsider looking in," Fowler said during an appearance on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast.

"You've got to have a little bit of realism as well, because history tells you there's probably only been two teams that have won the Premier League on the back of six or seven defeats.

“So if Liverpool are going to win the league now, they’ve got to win virtually every game.

"They can't even draw games, they've got to win them. So I think they're out of the title.”

Liverpool will return to Premier League action on November 22 when they will host Nottingham Forest at Anfield. That will be followed by a Champions League clash against PSV Eindhoven before three top-flight matches in the space of a week against West Ham, Sunderland Leeds United.

Slot admitted that, while he and Liverpool are not looking at the title race, the number of losses this term will make defending the league crown difficult to achieve.

"It feels (like) too many," said Slot after the defeat to City. "The last thing I should speak about is the title race, we should focus on getting results after results after results. We are eighth now - and one team is quite far ahead, while City are fours points behind Arsenal.

"The last thing we should focus on is the title race, we could do it last season but not the seasons before. We need to improve, that is obvious."

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