Michael Owen says Arsenal are not the best team in the Premier League

Michael Owen believes Liverpool remain the best team in the Premier League ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City.

Arne Slot guided Liverpool to the Premier League title in his first season in charge but the reigning champions have struggled for consistency this term and are currently sixth in the table, 19 points behind leaders Arsenal.

Owen, however, is adamant that Liverpool are the standout team in the Premier League and could return to their best next season.

‘Personally, I think they’re the best team in the Premier League,’ Owen said on BBC’s Wayne Rooney Show.

‘People will laugh like, ‘where are they, sixth in the league?’ They trounced the league last season, and they’re not the sixth [best], they’re just not playing well.

‘If you get the best performance out of every team in the Premier League and say, ‘right, go on, your best against your best’, I think Liverpool are the best team. Going to Anfield I think is impossible when they’re playing well.

Rooney replied: ‘For me it’s different, I think Arsenal are the most consistent team, whether they win it or not, I’m still not sure because of City, I don’t know.

‘The players they [Liverpool] lost last summer and the players they brought in, it’s a big turnaround to get the same out of the group of players this year what they got last year.

‘If you look at the players they lost, plus, which I’ve said all season, I don’t think Van Dijk or Salah, who are Liverpool’s two main players, have been at their best. So I think next season will be the one for Liverpool, and obviously when you’re champions you get criticised if you don’t win games and that’s what’s happened with some of the players and the manager.’

Owen replied: ‘I think if you ask a Liverpool fan, would you settle for finishing fifth? Champions League football is absolutely vital. Then after the season it’s been, and then to try to win another trophy, then I think they’d they’d take that. The league has long gone, so it’s just about making sure it’s top five.

‘I hear Wazza with the Liverpool situation, it’s been massively frustrating but I still find it hard to believe you can go from being so dominant one season and adding some really top players, Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz, just those three are unbelievable players, it’s hard to believe they’re worse, of course, they’re playing worse this season but I just think it’s a matter of time, maybe next season, before you see them at their very top again.

‘Arsenal I think will go on to win the league but you can’t tell me they’re as good as, or even close to Liverpool last season. I still think Liverpool have got it in them, they’re just not doing it consistently.’

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