Liverpool’s run of five difficult games in 15 days was feted as a make-or-break spell for Arne Slot‘s side – and they turned it into a defining title run, writes Steven Scragg.
Newcastle brushed aside, another three points obtained, and with Arsenal being held to a goalless draw at Nottingham Forest, Liverpool now find themselves 21 points away from a 20th league title after what has to be classed as a dream four or five days.
For those looking for cracks in the 2024/25 Liverpool armour, February was the month that was meant to bend or even break them.
Six Premier League fixtures, two more than their principal rivals, five games within a 15-day span, and a continuing association with the FA Cup, at least until Plymouth Argyle had an inspired Sunday afternoon at Home Park – the scrutiny on Arne Slot and his team was intense.
We felt the weight of this at home to Wolves, when we were overly nervous in meandering to a narrow victory, a win that was sandwiched by points being dropped at Goodison and Villa Park.
Whether it was done subconsciously of deliberately, Slot and his team have managed to take a deep breath since a spell that was being declared a blip – a ludicrous label for an entity that has lost just once in the league all season and are unbeaten for over five months.
We used to talk of mentality monsters, but now to a Generation X-er like me, it just feels like contemporary Liverpool are resembling the Liverpool I grew up on during the Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish eras.
We’re still a month away from the clocks going forward; when Arsenal were beaten at home by West Ham last Saturday, on the Gregorian calendar we were sat as close to Christmas Day 2024 as we were to Easter Sunday 2025.
It is still dark when most people go to work of a morning and return home at the end of a gruelling day, and without doubt it is still very much the ‘big coat protocol’ part of the year.
Yet Liverpool are now being categorised as champions-elect.
Praise has been high from most quarters, and while Liverpool are measured in their stride and momentum, Mikel Arteta strikes the image of a man who is all set to spontaneously combust, as his team offer up generous gifts on a regular basis.
Wednesday night represented a further five-point swing, on the back of the six-point swing obtained at the weekend, in terms of where the chalk line that Liverpool need to roll across to make themselves unassailable sits.
When Arsenal took to their own pitch to face West Ham, the narrative was that Liverpool’s lead would shrink to five points, ahead of our trip to Man City the following day. With an added game in hand, north London optimism insisted that the gap could well be reduced to two points before long.
This fanciful notion of a narrowing gap has now become a chasm of 13 points, while that game in hand Arsenal harbour, at home to Chelsea, doesn’t appear to be the guaranteed three points it might have seemed a couple of weeks or so ago when Arteta’s men were putting five past Pep Guardiola’s pussycats.
Oh, and the Gunners are still to come to Anfield too.
Liverpool headed to the Etihad with their eight-point advantage still intact and extended it to 11 points with an impressive Sunday afternoon stroll in the park – a win that also put a 20-point restraining order between us and the reigning champions.
This truly astonishing situation has now been further enhanced after goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister defeated an open, expressive but inferior opponent in the shape of Newcastle.
One game at a time and all that, but it’s hard not to get carried away.
Outside the ground before kickoff, me and Big Andy were busy planning the league-winning mosaic and plotting how we are going to wet the baby’s head on title number 20, this being a conversation between two people who aren’t renown counters of eggs but are very eager to make up for the celebrations we were denied in 2019/20 due to a global pandemic.
We waited three decades to let loose on a title-winning party, and while we did eventually get our hands on the prize – and supporters did take to the streets to celebrate when they weren’t really meant to – it wasn’t a success that was embraced in the way it was supposed to be, and by the time we were allowed to click back through the Anfield turnstiles once again, the moment had long gone.
The open-top bus tour of the city couldn’t be done in retrospect, and another half-decade has been tagged on for good measure to our wait for the party to end all parties.
It all means that we are looking at a road trip to the title via Sat Nav. The map is operational, the arrow is pointed in the right direction, and the chequered flag symbol has appeared at the top of the screen.
We can see the finish line, although we can’t quite reach it yet, but we need to be vigilant that the wheels remain attached to the tour bus, because there are still just under three months to navigate our way to the season’s categoric end.
On the pitch on Wednesday night, although he chipped in with another assist, it wasn’t quite Mohamed Salah’s night.
Yes, he was the usual blizzard of skill, but he didn’t enjoy the bounce of the ball as much as he would have liked to, and it was Luis Diaz and Szoboszlai that picked up the baton as the most penetrative forces in Liverpool’s latest win.
And this has been the key to where this season will lead Liverpool, from the managerial baton being passed from Jurgen Klopp to Slot; Alisson, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate’s masterful triumvirate in defence; to the responsibility of leading the drive from midfield circulating between Ryan Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones at various times; to Salah being able to take his foot off the gas occasionally to find Cody Gakpo or Diaz will grab a game by its coattails, along with all other contributions from everyone else.
It is all about the collective will for assuming responsibility that will get us to where we want to be.
Now, we as supporters can add our weight to the final push. Take to your seat, wherever that may be, and make some noise.
Up the champions-elect.
