30 years of pain in the English football championship should end for Liverpool 2020. The “Reds” are clearly on course for the title after a 4-0 win at the first pursuer Leicester City. In England, the biggest fallers of sport history are already being extracted – in the event that Jürgen Klopp’s team should still gamble away its current 13-point cushion.
The players themselves did not want to know about an early title decision after perhaps the best season performance of the Champions League winner. “To me it sounds like nothing has been decided yet,” emphasized success coach Klopp. “We are just trying everything to be ready for our next games.” The next rises at home against Wolverhampton on Sunday (5.30 p.m. CET / live sky).
The only remaining challengers Leicester and ManCity have one day less time to regenerate in the dense Christmas and New Year program. Leicester have to face West Ham less than 48 hours after going bust at Saturday night (6:30 p.m.) at West Ham, ManCity (on Friday night at Wolverhampton) receives Sheffield United on Sunday (7:00 p.m.).
13 points are the biggest Premier League lead on traditional “Boxing Day” (December 26th) since Manchester United in 1993. With one game less played, the way to the first championship title since 1990 seems to be clear for Liverpool. In the remaining 20 league games, the “Reds” would have to give up 14 points to give the pursuers at least a mathematical chance. In their most recent 45 Premier League games, however, there were only 13 of them.
The last league defeat so far was on 3 January 2019 against ManCity (1: 2). Since then, Liverpool has been unbeaten in 35 Premier League games. “The only thing that changes are the numbers,” said Klopp. “It was ten, eleven, and now it’s 13 points. But we don’t think about it. We didn’t even talk about it. It’s just not interesting.”
Too often, Liverpool has squandered good opportunities in the past three decades – around April 2014, when captain Steven Gerrard slipped into the crucial scene at the title showdown against Chelsea. In 2020, none of this should happen. The performance in Leicester, led by an outstanding right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold (one goal, two assists) was too convincing.
Liverpool do not want to weigh themselves in safety. “I can write the stories myself,” said Klopp about possible media reactions to a suicide. “Never before in British football history has a team squandered a bigger lead. That sounds very negative to me, so we’re just focused on what we have to do.”
For Ralph Hasenhüttl, Southampton is mainly about relegation in the second half of the season. With a 2-0 win at fourth in Chelsea, the “Saints” made a strong sign of life. His team stormed to 14th place in the table, coach Hasenhüttl onto the field after the game. The Styrian was celebrated frenetically by the fans who traveled with him long afterwards – in October he was still responsible for the highest defeat in Premier League history with a 0: 9 against Leicester.
“You can have a tactical plan, but it doesn’t work without passion,” said Hasenhüttl of his emotional outburst. “We stayed brave. It was by far our best performance this season.” It was still a long way to go. “But in the first two or three months we played like a relegation team. Now we play like a Premier League team.”
A home game against medium-sized companies Crystal Palace awaits on Saturday (4 p.m.). Chelsea face Arsenal on Sunday (3:00 p.m.) in the city duel away from London. Arsenal have won only one of their last 14 competitive games. Neo coach Mikel Arteta is waiting for the next big test after the failed first in Bournemouth (1-1) with Chelsea and three days later Manchester United.
Source: Apa / Ag.
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