Jason McAteer: Brendan Rodgers may come up short on return to Anfield

Brendan Rodgers returns to Anfield this weekend and would dearly love to get one over on the man who replaced him, Jurgen Klopp – but I think he’ll come up short.

I also think that Liverpool’s showdown with Leicester is the start of a run of fixtures which will determine whether the Reds can finally land the Premier League title.

This is a huge couple of months for Klopp but I’ve never seen a Liverpool side so ready for what lies in wait.

Liverpool have got Leicester, Manchester United, Tottenham and Man City in their next five league games, so that’s going to be a true test for them.

They’ve got so many games in such a short period, including Champions League games and a trip to Qatar for the World Club Cup which is bound to disrupt things. Christmas is always a heavy period and then we’re into January when injuries are picked up.

But if Klopp can get through November and December with Liverpool sitting top – or even three or four points off Manchester City – then they will win the league. If they drop back eight points or ten points then it’s City’s to lose.

These next few games are massive and you have to say that Leicester are a danger, especially with Brendan Rodgers in charge.

They are coming to Anfield with a manager who knows the DNA of Liverpool Football Club and he’d love to get one over on Jurgen.
Leicester look like a side in a good place, they seem very happy and they’ll all know what Brendan expects of them.

They boast a striker in Jamie Vardy who is scoring goals and in James Maddison they have a really creative player and a threat.

They will be a danger but do I think they’ll score more goals than Liverpool? No I don’t.

And Liverpool will keep going for goals which is a response to what happened last season.

City lost four games last time and Liverpool lost one, yet we know who won the league. The Reds' downfall was drawing too many matches and they know that can’t happen this time.

Take the 1-0 win at Sheffield United last weekend. That would have finished a draw last season but now they are acutely aware of the importance of three points from matches like that so they up the stakes because they demand a winner.

What it means is that Liverpool will be living on the edge a bit more chasing those three points but that’s what Manchester City’s sheer consistency has done. They have forced the rest to take chances.

The great thing about Liverpool now is that they don’t think they’re going to lose games and that has not happened by accident.
The big disappointments for me this season are Spurs and Arsenal, who have got real problems.

Tottenham look like a club in desperate need of a change and I sense it could happen sooner rather than later.

The financial situation at Tottenham certainly didn’t help Mauricio Pochettino – going through a couple of windows where he couldn’t buy anyone would have hurt him.

He’s also a wanted man. Rumours about Manchester United and Real Madrid don’t go away especially with Solskjaer and Zidane struggling – and there’s no smoke without fire. There will be players who are unhappy because they are not playing – like Christian Eriksen – while Harry Kane may be looking at it now and thinking I should have gone when I had the chance. It just looks really dysfunctional with problems behind the scenes.

And there's the way they were beaten by Bayern Munich. That’s not the Bayern of six or seven years ago either. Spurs have dropped too many points to suggest they can make a title charge and they are only going to go backwards.

All of that contrasts with Liverpool where there is so much positivity, so much energy and so much desire.

They have got to keep evolving and it’s why Liverpool place such an emphasis on the academy and integrating it into the first-team ethic.

Some of the current crop of kids look exceptional. Curtis Jones is coming through and Harvey Elliott, who’s only 16, looks fantastic, Adam Lewis is on the rise and there’s Rhian Brewster, plus others. They could all become first-team regulars and they only need to look at Trent Alexander-Arnold for evidence of that.

Trent was a centre midfielder who wanted to play centre-half and ended up on the right of defence. Nathaniel Clyne got injured and Trent got thrown in at the deep end and started swimming. Clyne couldn’t get back in and Trent has now won the Champions League and is probably England’s regular right-back and playing every game for Liverpool. And he’s still only 21.

You need that little bit of luck to get in the first team and then show you can handle the pressure and I’m convinced a few of them will be able to do that.

People have questioned Liverpool’s strength in depth and I don’t think it’s quite as strong as Manchester City’s, but there is cover in key areas.

Take one of their star players out of the team and inevitably it has an impact – it would at any club.

But Jurgen has been able to tweak things and bring in different players and look where they are.

The one player I think is indispensable going forward is Roberto Firmino. Forget Sadio Mane or Mo Salah, it’s Firmino who makes the whole thing tick going forward. I think if Liverpool lost Firmino it would have a bigger impact than losing Mane or Salah.

Look at the Super Cup against Chelsea where Liverpool produced two completely different halves of football, the first without Firmino and the second with him. He’s a more important part of the attacking jigsaw than anyone else.

Read more of Jason McAteer's thoughts in the The Jury in Saturday's Racing Post Sport

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