City's fall could raise the bar for Iraola

Liverpool return to Premier League action on Sunday with a home fixture against Manchester City, and the build-up has been impossible to separate from the bombshell that dropped during the international break: City found guilty of breaching Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. The punishment is still to be determined, and City have lodged an appeal, maintaining their innocence and expressing confidence in full exoneration. But the debate over what comes next has already rippled well beyond the Etihad.

Jamie Carragher, writing in his column for The Telegraph, has gone as far as predicting that Enzo Maresca's side will be relegated as a consequence. And he argues that if City do drop out of the top flight, the landscape of English football shifts immediately and dramatically, with the pressure falling squarely on the clubs left behind to fill the void. For Liverpool, that means Andoni Iraola faces a very different conversation about timelines and expectations.

"City have been a valid excuse for narrowly losing titles and trophies. For others, they have been a convenient one," Carragher wrote. "For Liverpool, Chelsea and United, the timescale to become title challengers changes the moment City hear the outcome of their disciplinary hearing. The power shift will be instant and dramatic." He was equally direct about what it means for Iraola specifically: "We are not in a world in which Iraola can talk about long-term projects. Once the two immediate obstacles to another Liverpool title in the near future are reduced to one, there will be an expectation for his side to make haste."

What the City verdict means for Liverpool's ambitions

Liverpool's own history makes Carragher's argument land with extra weight. The Reds finished as runners-up behind City on three separate occasions in recent years, and that accumulated frustration is well documented at Anfield. Carragher's advice to Liverpool is pointed: use that "grievance as a source of motivation" rather than let it fester.

It is a fair challenge. If City's grip on the top of English football is loosened, either by relegation or by the uncertainty that surrounds a club fighting a lengthy legal battle, then rivals no longer have the same shield to hide behind. For Iraola, building a project at Liverpool while the club's greatest rival of the last decade potentially disappears from the top flight is as much an opportunity as it is a raised bar. The question is whether the squad and the infrastructure around him are ready to meet that moment sooner than anyone planned.

Slot finds a new home with UEFA

Away from the City saga, Arne Slot has taken his first formal position since leaving Liverpool at the end of last season. The Dutchman, who was relieved of his duties following a disappointing defence of the title he won in his debut campaign, had been linked with the Netherlands national team before making clear he wanted to stay in club management. In the meantime, he has accepted a place on UEFA's Technical Observer Group.

UEFA describes the group's remit as monitoring the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League using "stats and video assistance, enabling them to deliver detailed reports on the latest developments in coaching, which are shared among the footballing community to give a dynamic account of the state of the game." It is a role that keeps Slot sharp and visible in European football circles while he waits for the right club opportunity to present itself. UEFA's own statement on his appointment acknowledged his journey from reaching the UEFA Conference League final with Feyenoord in 2022, through winning the Eredivisie and Dutch Cup, to arriving at Liverpool in 2024 and immediately delivering the club's second Premier League trophy in five years. Whatever comes next for Slot, he is clearly not standing still.

With Sunday's visit of Manchester City at Anfield arriving in the shadow of all that context, this is shaping up to be quite the occasion to mark the Premier League's return.