Liverpool trail Manchester City by six points, having played one fewer game than Pep Guardiola’s side, but with a potentially critical trip to Etihad Stadium yet to come in April, Liverpool might still win the Premier League this season.
Diogo Jota’s brace in Liverpool’s 2-0 win against Leicester City at Anfield guaranteed Jurgen Klopp’s side remained a threat to City’s aspirations of winning the Premier League for the fourth time in five seasons.
This victory left Liverpool in the peculiar position of being mathematically close enough to City to keep them in the title race, but far enough adrift to make a title charge seem exceedingly impossible. Klopp’s team has no margin for mistake, that much is obvious. With just one slip, they’ll be able to wave goodbye to the title.
“I don’t think [City] has smelled our breath yet,” Klopp stated after the win. “However, all we care about is winning football games.”
While the focus will obviously be on Liverpool’s slim prospect of a second title in three seasons, it should not be forgotten that the Reds are “still battling for four competitions,” as defender Andy Robertson put it after the game.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said it’s “crazy” to even consider accomplishing an unprecedented quadruple after his team defeated Chelsea 11-10 on penalties to win their ninth League Cup and sixth title under his guidance.
Their FA Cup aspirations are still alive and well after being drawn against Premier League strugglers Norwich City in round five at Anfield. While their round-of-16 match against Inter Milan, the Italian champions, will not be easy, Liverpool’s pedigree and recent results in the competition suggest they will advance to the quarterfinals, and maybe all the way to the final on May 28 in Saint Petersburg.
The immediate challenge is to close the gap on City, which will excite Klopp and his team. With Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane returning to the Liverpool squad after Africa Cup of Nations service, Klopp has a powerful group of players from which to choose in the months ahead, and they are the only team capable of accomplishing the seemingly impossible.
Whatever happens in the Premier League, Liverpool must view the next three months as a chance to win the trophies that this team so richly deserves.
This season, though, Liverpool has the opportunity to correct the balance and win the trophies that will allow them to join the pantheon of Anfield’s greatest teams.
Liverpool will play a minimum of 19 games in all competitions over the next few days, but if they are to win the FA Cup and the Champions League, they will have to play an additional eight. Twenty-seven games in 106 days mean they’ll play one game every four days, not to include international commitments for the majority of Klopp’s players, so Liverpool will be pushed to their limits if they are to maintain a four-front challenge.
But this crew is capable of doing so, and it may be required to do so. If this Liverpool team wins considerably less titles than they were capable of, it will be considered an oddity by history.
