All Or Nothing
With the Premier League season just getting over the halfway mark recently, there’s certainly a buzz amongst the Liverpool faithful. Top of the league, six points clear of second-placed Arsenal with a game in hand, makes some healthy league table viewing. All the more impressive considering that it’s Arne Slot’s first season at the helm. The fact that he has Liverpool in this position speaks to how seamless a transition it has been from the legendary Jurgen Klopp to our new gaffer.
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Admittedly, the overall positivity that’s been prevalent throughout the season took a bit of a slight hit over the last few weeks, following a narrow 1-0 first-leg defeat to Tottenham in the League Cup semi-final, sandwiched between consecutive Premier League draws to Manchester United and Nottingham Forest. While the draws were certainly not ideal, they were far from fatal unlike seasons past, and the Reds managed to bounce back with a massive late win over Brentford at the Gtech stadium courtesy of late winners from Darwin Nunez.
The Road Ahead
As it’s often said, a long season can be best analyzed by dividing it into phases. Liverpool has recently entered a tough stretch of league games playing bitter rivals United at home, followed by consecutive away trips to Forest and Brentford, which is absolutely no laughing matter. Navigating this with a win and two draws isn’t the greatest, but, thankfully, it’s not fatal. The next five league fixtures can prove massive in cementing Liverpool’s title charge, starting with relegation strugglers Ipswich Town at Anfield, followed by a trip to Bournemouth, a trip to Goodison for the Merseyside Derby, Wolves at Anfield, and finally, the culmination of facing defending champions Manchester City away. There’s an argument to be made that if Liverpool were to get 12/15, 13/15, or even 15/15 points in these next 5 games, it’s one hand on the Premier League title.
No Better Opportunity?
When looking at the overarching Premier League landscape, there are a few surprises this season that promise to make it yet another memorable one. First and most notably, of course, is Manchester City, currently in a rut, with their best player, Rodri, out for the season. It’s been an incredibly rare off-season for undoubtedly the Premier League’s dominant club over the last decade and I cannot stress enough that Liverpool should do everything in their power to take advantage. Regardless of your views on the legitimacy of Manchester City’s business model,
there’s no question that they have the most expensive and best squad in the Premier League, but they’re hurting right now, and that presents an excellent opportunity for Liverpool to go for the jugular and win title number 20.
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It would also be remiss of me not to mention Arsenal, who are currently second in the league at the time of writing and have increasingly looked like Liverpool’s biggest threat for the title this season. They’re certainly not in the ballpark of Manchester City’s best teams, but they still have a well-built squad that contains some of the world’s best. A lot of things go in Liverpool’s favor though, as their best player, Bukayo Saka is out until March, and the North Londoners have struggled to take advantage of recent Liverpool slippages with some dropped points on their end as well.
Obviously, there are no certainties in anything, but it’s hard to ignore the stars aligning somewhat for Arne Slot’s men. The fact that we’ve still got the spine of our last title-winning team in Alisson, Trent, van Dijk, and Salah is big if Liverpool are going to achieve their goals this season. It’s not quite the home stretch yet, but these next five league fixtures present a massive opportunity for the Reds to extend that relatively healthy lead at the top.
