“Manchester City, Liverpool and Manchester United – It will be one of them three”, Liverpool legend Peter Beardsley on the Premier League title race.

Peter Beardsley made over 130 appearances for reigning Premier League Champions Liverpool, winning the Football League First Division twice, while also briefly featuring for both Manchester United and Manchester City in what was an illustrious professional footballing career.

The former forward praised the trio of his former clubs and expressed his thoughts on how the three footballing heavyweights will fare this season.

“Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City will always be three of the best in my opinion.

“They’ve got a lot of good, young players and they play a good brand of football.

“All due respect to Leicester, who’ve done amazing again, Brendan Rodgers has done a great job there, but the two Manchester clubs and Liverpool – It will be one of them three.”

Jurgen Klopp’s men dominated the league last season, however this campaign hasn’t been as flawless and Liverpool are without a win in four games, failing to score in three of those fixtures too.

Beardsley, who scored 18 goals for Liverpool in his first season at Anfield, believes The Reds front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have been receiving unjust criticism.

“They’ve been amazing, but at the moment they’re just having a barren patch and that happens to everybody.

“When you’re winning games, nobody cares who scores the goals. When you don’t score, the forwards get the blame.

“I feel a bit sorry for them.

“The opposition are now more aware of how Liverpool play and as a team they’ve been decimated by injuries.

“It’s a tough one but they’ll get through it.”

Pressure from the fans and the media due to lack of goals is something Beardsley experienced himself during his time at Liverpool. His move from Newcastle United to Merseyside warranted a record transfer fee for English football, something Beardsley initialled struggled with.

“The pressure was unbelievable, without a doubt.

“At the time I was a record signing in the country and the pressure was horrendous.

“Luckily Aldo (John Aldridge) and John Barnes were scoring goals.

“Until Christmas I was really poor in terms of scoring but Kenny (Dalglish) was so loyal to me and never looked like leaving me out of the team.

“I scored on Boxing Day and then had an amazing second half of the season.

“People have good runs where they can’t stop scoring and then they have runs where they’re never going to score.

“There’s no rhyme or reason, sometimes it’s just the way it is.”

Four-time PFA Team of the Year player Beardsley went on to emphasise the positive influence Diogo Jota has had on Liverpool this season, underlining the importance of the Portugese international’s potential return from injury next month.

“Not many people mention Jota and the fact that he’s not there, they just blame the front three.

“I knew he was a good player but he’s been outstanding.

“He came in with a big fee and he did a great job for Wolves, but he also hit the ground running at Liverpool.

“He scored a lot of goals and was involved in lots of good play – he’s been amazing.”

Beardsley was part of a very successful Liverpool team in an era where the Merseyside Club dominated English football, but the 60-year-old praised the enormous impact Klopp has had on the club, from signings to playing style.

“They’ve brought in Thiago who is absolute superstar – an amazing player.

“I also think Jota was a masterstroke because he gives the three forwards a bit of pressure.

“When I look at what Klopp has done, it’s been amazing.

“The players he’s brought in, the style of football.

“Since he arrived there’s been a real identity within the club and he’s been amazing.”