Relax yourselves.
Yes, it’s not even February and there’s a long, long way to go and you couldn’t possibly have a more terrifying outfit in Pep Guardiola’s Man City chasing over your shoulder but Liverpool should win the Premier League.
They’re five points clear, they look formidable, they’re cutting teams open for kicks and what’s most impressive is that the 1-1 draw on Wednesday night with Leicester was the first time Liverpool dropped points against anyone outside the top six this season.
Liverpool should win the league because they are the best team in it this season, that’s why.
With 14 games remaining though, it could go down right to the wire and the failure to open the gap on Man City to seven points during the midweek fixtures is a chance that Anfield will rue but Liverpool are coming off the back of a draw in terrible conditions with Leicester; City off the back of a defeat to bloody Newcastle.
And, whilst rivals fans might revel in the idea that Jurgen Klopp was making some sort of excuse that they could poke fun at when he talked about the snow on the pitch, it was something that really affected the match.
“We knew before that it would be really difficult and then it started snowing it made it not easy.
“The ball didn’t roll really and, if you have the ball pretty much for 70-80 per cent of the time, then it makes life really uncomfortable.
“To break down a side who defends like Leicester did tonight, you have to accelerate, you have to speed up in decisive areas and sometimes we didn’t do it – I don’t know why – and sometimes we couldn’t because it’s difficult, you have to control the ball, you have to pass through a compact formation.
“We have to accept the result, no problem. We don’t think we can run through the league and beat everybody. We are ready for hard work.”
Liverpool’s ground staff drew criticism for clearing the snow at half time but only doing it in the side of the pitch that the home side would be attacking. Shock horror: home team tries to take advantage of being at home.
But, with the way that Klopp has his team pushing up on defenders and winning ball in high areas, with the cut-throat, fast football they like to play to go straight through teams, they operate better in football when they can actually play football and that was tougher to do with the snow underfoot.
Liverpool’s next fixtures:
- West Ham (a) – Monday
- Bournemouth (h) – Feb 9
- Bayern (h) – Feb 19
- Man United (a) – Feb 24
- Watford (h) – Feb 27
- Everton (a) – Mar 2
The next month will go a long way in shaping Liverpool’s season but, although trips to United and Everton look daunting, they’re games that they’re more than capable of winning.
As Stevie G Klopp, we go again.
“Everything is fine. I don’t think anybody was injured which helps us a lot and now we have a few days to prepare for West Ham and we go again.
“Then Bournemouth and we go again.
“That’s what we do. Not counting points and hoping for gaps between us and other teams.”
