Wantaway Liverpool star sends Arsenal and Man City 'crazy' Premier League title race warning

Caoimhin Kelleher is set to be Liverpool's number one in the absence of Alisson Becker, who recently suffered a hamstring injury

Caoimhin Kelleher has sent Manchester City and Arsenal a warning as the Premier League title race builds a head of steam. The Irish goalkeeper is set to step up following Alisson Becker's hamstring injury, which will keep the Brazilian out until after the next international break.

Liverpool have some tough fixtures after the international break, including clashes against Chelsea, RB Leipzig, Arsenal, Brighton (twice – once in the Carabao Cup and once in the Premier League), Bayer Leverkusen and Aston Villa. However, Kelleher is confident that the Merseyside outfit has the depth to compete across all competitions, in an interview with the Mirror.

"Obviously the standard is crazy at the moment," said Kelleher, who confessed last month that he considered leaving the club in search of regular first-team football. "You have City and Arsenal who have shown in the last few seasons they are title contenders, and we're trying to match them."

He added: "But you look at the schedule and every game is a difficult game and that just shows the standard of the league. You can't relax or take your foot off the pedal in any games because you won't get the result you want.

"I think the quality right throughout the league is really good, and I think personally [it's] the best league in the world. We need to be ambitious, we definitely have the quality within the squad to challenge for a title.

"It's easy saying that – you need to obviously back it up. If we want to compete we need to be on a similar level to them [City and Arsenal] and keep these performances up and, most importantly, keep the results up."

READ MORE: Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham brace for transfer update as FIFA told rules are 'illegal'

READ MORE: Man City charges case best and worst case scenario as Premier League clubs await verdict

Despite his desire for a move away, Kelleher has been impressed with the approach of Arne Slot since he took over from Jurgen Klopp in the summer. The Irishman said: "Obviously there was a massive change for us, the manager leaving and a lot of the staff and coaches as well.

"But I think important for us and the squad of players was that there weren't too many changes in the squad of players We all know what it's about, we came close to the league last year so there is that high motivation already to go that one step further.

"I think that makes it easier for the new manager coming in, that he inherits a squad full of quality. Like he has been saying, there's a lot of quality within the squad and a lot of experience and motivation to go that one step further."

Join the football.london Arsenal WhatsApp channel

Join our Arsenal WhatsApp channel and get all the latest breaking news, opinion, podcasts and in-depth stories from football.london's dedicated Arsenal writers straight to your phone!

By following this free service you will be the first to know the news from the Emirates Stadium as it happens, when it happens.

To join our dedicated Arsenal channel, all you have to do is click this link and you can join thousands of others following our Gunners coverage!

If you're curious, you can check out our privacy policy here.