After a disappointing 2020/21 season, Liverpool is once again in the thick of the Premier League race. The Reds currently sits second, just one point behind league leaders in Manchester City.
The title race for this year’s Premier League looks to be intense. With Chelsea also keeping pace with Liverpool and Manchester City, it could be a three-horse race.
Liverpool has been excellent this season, particularly being potent upfront. Jurgen Klopp’s men seem determined to claim back the Premier League title, but can they win it?
SCORING FOR FUN
The Reds currently have 40 points from their 17 matches. This includes 12 wins, 4 draws and a defeat, which came against West Ham United.
Liverpool is currently the top-scoring team in the Premier League, scoring 48 goals till the time of writing. This is 8 more than Manchester City, who are the second-highest scorers. The Reds have also kept 10 clean sheets this season, joint high as the league leaders City.
Manchester City has only conceded 9 goals while Liverpool has let in 13. All this shows there is very little that separate Liverpool from the league leaders. The Reds have also extended this goal-scoring run to the Champions League. They won all six of their group stage matches, a first for an English club as they advance to the knockout round.
BOUNCING BACK FROM BAD SEASON
This has been a drastic change from what happened last season. 2020/21 was a poor one for Liverpool compared to the very high standards they have set in recent times. The club failed to win any trophies while they were fortunate enough to finish in the top four.
This was mostly down to injuries to key members of the team. Klopp was stretched to his limit in the defence as Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez were all injured at the same point in time.
Though there were questions raised about their recruitment in the summer, the team seem to be doing well at the moment. The major signing for the club was centre-back Ibrahima Konate, who moved to Liverpool from RB Leipzig. Konate has been integrated into the squad perfectly as the team now seem to have excellent depth in the area.
This defensive solidity has helped their midfielders to push more further and play more to their style. As a result, the club has been able to be more lethal in attack. The Liverpool attackers also look fresher, especially Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota.
Salah is on another level already scoring 15 times in the Premier League so far, while also assisting 9 times for his teammates. This meant that the Egyptian tops both the list for goalscorers and assist providers. Jota is also having an excellent season scoring 9 goals for the team, while Sadio Mane has 7 goals in his name.
SO CAN LIVERPOOL WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE?
Even with such an amazing team, it is still very hard to guarantee that the club will win the Premier League. Such has been the quality of Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. This season, Chelsea also looks to be serious contenders and the title race seem to go down to the last game week.
However, Liverpool will have concerns in continuing their red-hot scoring run. The club could be without Salah and Mane alongside midfielder Naby Keita during January. The trio most probably will be joining their nations to take part in the African Cup of Nations to be held during the next month.
This will prove the decisive moment for Liverpool in the Premier League race. Though Manchester City and Chelsea have players from African nations in their team, Liverpool will be the most hit.
While Klopp could use Roberto Firmino, Diogo Jota and Divock Origi up front while rotating with Takumi Minamino. But there will surely be a dip in quality by the absence of Salah and Mane. The club could try to sign a replacement in January, but this seems very unlikely considering Liverpool’s recent transfer records.
One can be sure that Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool will try everything they can to avoid slipping out of the title race. If the club can cross the January fixtures without any major hiccups and keep their stars fit for the season, they can surely win the Premier League come May 2022.
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