Ian Wright has contested accusations that Liverpool’s impending Premier League triumph owes primarily to an ‘easy start’ to the season for Arne Slot’s side.
The Reds need just three more points to clinch the title, and they could even be crowned champions with five matches to spare if Arsenal lose to Crystal Palace on Wednesday, with the players set to watch that fixture together in case the matter is settled in north London in midweek.
The Merseysiders roared out of the blocks in the opening third of the campaign, taking 34 out of the first 39 points on offer, with Nottingham Forest and the Gunners (both in the top six) the only teams to prevent them from winning in that time.
Wright challenges ‘unfair’ accusations about Liverpool’s ‘easy start’
However, Wright believes that it’d be churlish to suggest that Liverpool are 13 points clear at the top solely because of the fixtures that they had in the first few weeks of the season.
Speaking on The Kelly & Wrighty Show, the former Arsenal striker said: “I think it’s a bit unfair on Liverpool in the way they’ve done it, because of Liverpool’s so-called ‘easy start’, but you still have to win those games. Nobody is expecting anyone to blast teams off the pitch to win games, and Liverpool have done it this season.
“Whether [Manchester] City have fallen off or Arsenal couldn’t quite catch them, whatever it is, Liverpool have been better than the rest and they’ve gotten the results that they needed in the situation…Liverpool have been by far the best team in the league.”
Wright is absolutely correct about Liverpool
Liverpool’s detractors have had to resort to increasingly ludicrous arguments to try and downplay the Reds’ emphatic lead at the Premier League summit.
The ‘easy games’ asterisk was thrown at them throughout the autumn as Slot took to English football like a duck to water, and then there was a ridiculous school of thought (peddled by the likes of Richard Keys) that they’re top by default because Arsenal and Man City aren’t as strong this season compared to last.
Don’t get us started on the downright untruths that LFC have had no major injuries to navigate (Alisson Becker and Ibrahima Konate, anyone?), or that they’ve had excessive assistance from referees (watch back the Goodison Park derby, we dare you!).
Credit to an avid Gunners cheerleader in Wright for challenging the notion that Liverpool have had it easy in 2024/25. The media in this country love to tell all and sundry that the Premier League is the ‘best in the world’ and that even relegation-threatened teams are capable of bloodying the noses of the elite.
Ultimately, every team in the division plays each other twice from August to May, so any apparently straightforward squence of fixtures must duly be balanced out by ‘harder’ periods of games.
The fact of the matter is that, 13 points clear and having lost only twice in the top flight all season, Liverpool have been superior to everyone else. They might get fortunate in the odd game here and there; if they’re this far ahead with the campaign nearly concluded, accusations of it being down to pure luck just don’t wash.
