Virgil van Dijk Says Premier League Title Won't be Won With Results vs. Man City

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk believes the Premier League title will be won or lost because of the Reds' performances against those lower down the table rather than their results against Manchester City. 

The Reds played out a goalless draw at Anfield on Sunday in their first meeting with the defending champions this season, but Van Dijk feels their week-to-week results are more important.

Per the Mirror's David Maddock, he said:

"I think it is not about these games, it is all about the other games, the difficult games which we have against mid-table and lower teams.

"We want to get as close as possible and do as well as we can, but we know it is going to be hard. We've had a great start to the season and we want to keep it going.

"We aim to improve every game, even if it is against Chelsea, for example, and we want to win every game. After the international break there are three important games against Huddersfield [Town], Red Star [Belgrade] and Cardiff [City] so we want to be ready for that."

Van Dijk is correct in his assertion that Liverpool won't win the title if they aren't beating those outside the top six each week.

However, City won the league by 19 points last year and finished 25 ahead of the Reds, and if they're to make up that kind of ground they need to be as strong as possible in the biggest matches, too.

Sports writer Daniel Harris believes their head-to-head record with City will be vital in determining who comes out on top:

It was important they didn't drop points against the Sky Blues on Sunday, but they also only have one more chance to take points off them this season.

Still, Liverpool will be pleased with how things have gone so far.

Since the last international break, Liverpool have played Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, Southampton, Chelsea twice, Napoli and City, all in the space of 23 days.

Despite that run, they're level on points with City and are yet to lose in the league.

Football writer Joel Rabinowitz is happy even if he can see room for improvement:

The Reds are yet to hit the heights they did last season with their level of performance, but if they can get back to that it will bode well for their chances.

They'll be hoping their top-six rivals can do them a favour by taking points off City, though, and it will be imperative for Liverpool to beat them in their next meeting on January 1 if they're still in the title race by then.