Micheal Oliver’s whistle at full time at the end of the clash between Liverpool and Manchester City sadly confirmed what many neutrals feared with regards to enjoying a competitive title race this season. The Reds now find themselves eight points clear of second-placed Leicester City and a massive nine points clear of title rivals Manchester City, and we are still only in autumn.
It doesn’t feel like Klopp’s men are a team that can be stopped this season given that their brilliant football is being complemented by the rub of the green. To be champions of England you need an equal measure of consistency as well as luck and right now, Liverpool have both in abundance.
For instance, it took three and a half minutes for VAR to eventually find enough reason to cancel out a Sheffield United goal against Spurs the day before but only a mere 10 seconds to decide against two handballs in favour of City at Anfield. At a time where the Video Assistant Referee is deciding football games left, right and centre in the Premier League, Liverpool managed to dodge a bullet that few teams have been able to evade this season.
— Sheffield United (@SheffieldUnited) November 9, 2019
At the end of the day, if fortune favours Liverpool in the big games against the top four then they are going to win the league because they are a phenomenal football side capable of beating the rest quite easily. It does make you wonder though, whether there could be a twist in the tale as the season goes on or if Liverpool will indeed turn the title race into a procession?
The Premier League betting odds of Liverpool winning the 2019/2020 season still offer a glimmer of hope for the chasing pack with the Reds at 2/5 to win. All things considered, those are quite remarkable odds when taking into account that the Reds hold an eight-point lead over the rest of the Premier League but with 26 games to go, the message is quite clear; anything can still happen.
So often it is actually the teams outside of the top six that inflict the damage that is enough to derail a title charge. If you cast your mind back to Leicester’s draw at Anfield last season and how much of an effect that result had on the Reds in the closing stages.
A few years before that Crystal Palace stunned Liverpool to deny them a title under former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers in what can only be described as a catastrophic nine minutes in the club’s history. It must be said that this Liverpool side is far better than the one Rodgers had assembled but the examples are there and serve as a reminder of the unpredictable nature of the Premier League.
Unbeaten in 4️⃣6️⃣ league games at Anfield 👊 pic.twitter.com/FwVpyMSWE2
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 10, 2019
There are undoubtedly going to be moments this season when the Liverpool fans begin to think ‘here we go again’ but it does feel different this time and that is because of the lead that they have built up in such quick time.
If the likes of Manchester City and dare we say even Leicester are going to capitalize on any slip-ups from the Reds, they will need to enjoy a faultless campaign from here on in. Is anyone brave enough to predict City won’t lose again this season? There is no margin for error for the chasing pack and with that in mind, it doesn’t seem conceivable that Liverpool will throw away this title, not again.
