It was Liverpool’s worst start to a calendar year in for more than two decades but that didn’t stop their German manager, often a figure portraying charm and admiration was now seated in Melwood striking an upbeat tone. Jürgen Klopp described that is was his dream that Liverpool will go on a run of 14 continuous wins in the league and challenge for the throne of England along with Chelsea. Their last opponent were a team that were ticking all the boxes under a very talented manager.
Tottenham Hotspur of Pochettino travelled to Anfield knowing that a victory would move them a little safely beyond their prowling neighbours vying the top four and a victory would close down the gap on their other cross-town rival leading the league but under 20 minutes they were simply outclassed by the hosts. Jürgen Klopp’s men ran riot with Sadio Mane absolutely crushing and presenting all types of problems. The victory was sealed as Mane struck his second in the first half itself and Tottenham never looked like coming back. Klopp’s dream might as well have seen its first step towards reality but is this optimism just pure misbelief?
A trip to King Power is next with the reds scheduled to take on Champions Leicester who are having an intense safety battle of their own but following this, Liverpool have 3 massive fixtures; Arsenal at home, Manchester City away and then a Merseyside derby back at Anfield. Unpredictable games against Stoke, West Brom, Watford and West Ham await as thorns in their path while their last game will be a tussle with Karanka’s Middlesbrough and the stakes will be huge considering that Boro will be fighting ever so hard to avoid the drop.
13 games, the perfect number of games are left for Klopp to fulfil his dream. It is often the tendency of Liverpool under Klopp to nail the big games but go down the next week itself to a smaller club. Analysing the fixtures further, if Liverpool set the tempo and show the same pace attacking wise and are resilient further back, the home affair vs Arsenal should be a victory for them but the one against Guardiola’s Manchester City looks like a mammoth of a game with both sides desperately needing a victory to get breathing space in the race for the top four.
A victory can be expected in the game vs Everton as well because even though the Merseyside derby will be physically very demanding, Liverpool have it in them to get past their rivals and history favours them as well. Having said that and rechecking the fixtures I can’t help but think the dream can be easily slashed off by an in form mid table club.
Liverpool’s record against the lower teams speaks volumes about their inability to kill them off or get a positive result. Away trips to Stoke, West Brom and Watford are dangerous. While Hughes and Tony Pulis have settled in tremendously well with their teams this season, Mazzarri’s Watford will present a hurdle of their own at Vicarage road and also lurking are Puel’s Southampton who’ve beaten Liverpool already to proceed in the cup final that they earlier lost. Slaven Bilic’s unpredictable Hammers will be looking to deliver a blow as well and raise their morale.
39 points are available in the league and it is very evident that all the 39 just cannot be taken. Liverpool are yet to stabilise their defence while the attack has faced problems of its own this year. Before the Tottenham game, only 8 goals were scored by Liverpool in 10 games while they had scored 24 goals in the previous ten. Liverpool had drawn blank in terms of scoring in four of the ten latest games. While the return of Sadio Mane has indeed been a major boost, the Premier League has offered us a verdict of its own this season. The table obviously doesn’t depend on your performance alone so even if Liverpool march with an impressive unbeaten streak, they have every chance of remaining in the same position because each and every other top club has stepped upon. United’s 16-game unbeaten streak is a record across Europe but they remain unmoved from the 6th place.
Apart from this, by now it is a recognised fact that it is Chelsea’s title to lose. Antonio Conte’s majestic system is seeing them conquer England flamboyantly. Chelsea only have the Manchester clubs to face as big opponents otherwise, their simple fixtures include the likes of Swansea and Sunderland. They will be clear by 12 points if they beat Burnley and from the remaining 13 fixtures, they would only need 27 points or so to secure the title or so which is a tough task but a very achievable one.
Verdict: The title race is over for Liverpool. As simple as that. As for what’s left of their season, it is the race to qualify for the Champions League. Mere five points separate the sixth from the second. Arsenal, Manchester United are upping the ante and we can be sure as hell Spurs would do so as well along with City so Liverpool have their work cut out.
