Liverpool's rain-soaked, jubilant supporters called it
with 90 seconds remaining of a statement win over Manchester City.
"We're going to win the league" echoed around a
sea of empty sky blue seats at Etihad Stadium, as Liverpool closed out
the win that leaves them 11 points clear at the top of the table.
And they are right. Liverpool are going to win the league.
Head coach Arne Slot's seamless transition from Jurgen Klopp
will be rewarded with the prize Liverpool's great old managers such as Bill
Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan coveted above all others, the "bread
and butter" as they called it.
The 2-0 win here, bolted on to Arsenal's loss at
home to West Ham on Saturday, means that, although there can be
thousands of words spent on dancing around the subject, this season's title
race is done and dusted.
Etihad Stadium has witnessed many title celebrations in
recent seasons. This looked and sounded like another one. The difference being
this was Liverpool's fans chanting "hand it over" rather than the
playing out of another addition to Pep Guardiola's roll of honour.
The race may not be run mathematically and football can be a
strange, unpredictable game. It is not, however, so strange and unpredictable
that a remorseless Liverpool team who have lost only one league all season, at
home to Nottingham Forest in September, will lose an 11-point advantage with
only 11 matches left.
And seven of those games are at Anfield. The game is up for
Arsenal. Their game in hand carries decreasing significance.
Liverpool can now afford some slip-ups, not that Slot will
want that, and even if they do, Arsenal will have to win almost every game,
something that looks beyond a side with a propensity to slip under pressure.
Slot says lead 'not comfortable' - but history disagrees
Slot, understandably, was cautious.
"In every other league, having a lead like would be
very comfortable, but not in this league," he said. "There is a
challenge in every game. We even saw Plymouth Argyle challenging us in the FA
Cup.
"The fans can sing what they want but we know how hard
we have to work. Someone asked me after we drew at Aston Villa whether we were
having a dip. I never believed that and I'm not going to say anything
now."
Seemingly insurmountable leads have been surrendered at the
top of the Premier League in the past, but very few as big as the one Liverpool
now hold. Not at this stage of the season.
The only one bearing any comparison was during the 1997-98
campaign, when Manchester United were 11 points clear of Arsenal on 2 March and
were reeled in.
However, they had already lost five games at that point and
had proved they were far from infallible. Liverpool have that Forest defeat as
the only blemish on their league record.
And the wonderful Arsenal side under Arsene Wenger that
chased United down were a very different proposition to the current crop under
Mikel Arteta, who are destined to be the title race's nearly men again.
Guardiola declined the opportunity to crown Liverpool
champions, but effectively answered the question with two more questions:
"How many points are they away from Arsenal? How many games have they
lost?"
Say no more.
He made a point of warmly congratulating Slot at the final
whistle before seeking out every Liverpool player for a handshake. Guardiola
knows a title-winning side when he sees it, and he was looking at one right
here.
Speaking to OceanNewsUK, former England goalkeeper and Match
of the Day pundit Joe Hart said "there's no way back" for Arsenal in
the title race.
"They can do what they want, they can win every game
from here, but I still don't think it will be enough," he added.
Still don't believe the title is Liverpool's? Just look
at the stats...
Liverpool's dominance of this Premier League season is
further underlined by the statistics that show they are superior in so many
metrics that matter.
Slot's machine has scored more goals than every other team
with 64. Liverpool are top of the shots, with 452, as well as shots on target,
with 173.
As the table above shows, they aren't just top of the league
- they're top of nearly every metric you could use to measure their success.
And at the heart of it all is Mohamed Salah, who opened the
scoring with his 30th goal of the season before creating the second for Dominik
Szoboszlai, effectively wrapping up the win before half-time.
The 'Egyptian King' has now scored 30 goals or more in five
separate seasons for Liverpooll, putting him level with Roger Hunt and Ian
Rush.
Salah also has 21 assists this season, a remarkable total of
51 contributions to goals before the end of February.
And victory here at Etihad Stadium, a huge moment in the
season, may just taste a little sweeter because it came at the club who have
denied Liverpool in tight title races before. Twice, a Guardiola-led City have
done it to them on the final day.
Liverpool had won only one of their previous 15 league games
away to City before this. Victory will have made up for those disappointments.
It would be no surprise if the closing stages of this league
season turns into a Liverpool procession.
Premature? Not really. It is now a case of when rather than
if the red ribbons adorn the silverware.
Start the car. Or in this case, the open-topped parade bus.
Liverpool not fluent but 'business-like' against Man City
Slot has brought his own touches to what Jurgen Klopp
bequeathed him, which was an outstanding squad fit for purpose for a title
tilt, aided and abetted by the astonishing collapse of Guardiola's
all-conquering Manchester City after a historic four successive titles.
Liverpool may not quite produce the fireworks that
accompanied Klopp's so-called "heavy metal football", but they still
have the fearsome Salah - and Slot's addition of a ruthless efficiency has made
them the full package this season.
The emotion-fuelled thrills of the Klopp era are now fused
on to the ice-cold approach of Slot.
He has taken on the task of succeeding an icon and actually
improved Liverpool.
The champions-elect had just 33.9% possession in the win at
City, their lowest in a Premier League victory since current Opta records
started in 2003-04.
They also had fewer shots, eight to City's 16, and fewer
touches inside the box, 27 to City's 40.
"That was a proper business-like performance from
Liverpool," said Hart. "They looked like they had a contingency plan
for any threat - well, the minimal threat - by City that they did feel they
were vulnerable to.
"They executed that really well, then everyone else
took care of their own business where they thought they could dominate.
"They were completely in control and comfortable
everywhere on the pitch."
City may have had more possession, but Liverpool keeper
Alisson hardly had any serious work to do.
The second half was a formality, for all City's efforts, as
so much floundered on the flanks while Slot's team posed a huge threat on the
counter.
