A trip to Ipswich was a less than ideal way for Arne Slot to get his Liverpool reign off and running. The sun was out and Portman Road was crackling with anticipation as the hosts soaked in a return to the top flight after 22 years away. Roared on by their supporters, Kieran McKenna’s men indeed proved a stern test, with Jacob Greaves and Omari Hutchinson coming close to giving them the lead. But the visitors held firmand prevailedthanks to goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah. A good start for Slot, then, who well and truly made his presence felt in a couple of ways – by hooking Jarell Quansah at half-time owing to the centre-back’s failings in aerial duels and successfully deploying Ryan Gravenberch as a holding midfielder.
After Ipswich came wins against Brentford and Manchester United, the latter secured with an utterly dominate display at Old Trafford. Liverpool looked unstoppable but in their first game after the first international break came a first setback: a1-0 home defeat by Nottingham Forestcourtesy of Callum Hudson-Odoi’s 72nd-minute strike. The visitors had their first win at Anfield since 1969 on the back of a really poor display by the hosts, as Slot acknowledged. “Too many individual performances were not up to the standards that I’m used to from these players,” he said. In hindsight such a shock to the system was perhaps a positive for all concerned, removing as it did any early-season complacency and highlighting to the head coach just what a difficult division he had stepped into.
Liverpool’s reaction to losing to Forest was perfect, literally. They won their next eight games in all competitions and even the result that brought that run to an end was one to be cherished.Late October’s 2-2 draw with Arsenalat the Emirates Stadium was a hard-fought one. The visitors did not play especially well but in twice coming from behind they displayed character and resilience. In the process they also kept a title rival at bay. Arsenal had been frustrated by Liverpool, which, to a large extent, is the story of the season, as was the nature of the visitors’ second goal nine minutes from time: an unerring left-foot finish by Salah when it mattered most. It was the Egyptian’s eighth of the campaign. There wassomuch more to come from him.
A 2-1 home win against Brighton in their next league game put Liverpool top. But as autumn turned to winter there remained doubts about just how good they were. Then came a hugely impressive2-0 home victory against Real Madridon 27 November followed four days later by a similarly fine2-0 home victory against Manchester City. The European and Premier League champions had been taken apart by Slot’s red machine, with the latter triumph, courtesy of goals from the increasingly important Cody Gakpo and – surprise, surprise – Salah putting them nine points clear. “They were unstoppable,” Pep Guardiola said. He wasn’t wrong. Meanwhile, Opta’s “supercomputer” increased Liverpool’s chances of winning the title to 85.1%.
A2-2 draw with Fulhamis rarely met with rousing applause by the Anfield faithful but that was very much the case after mid-December’s encounter. Andreas Pereira gave the visitors an 11th-minute lead and their chances of securing victory increased after Andrew Robertson’s sending-off. But this would again be an occasion when Liverpool displayed character and resilience, with Gakpo equalising just after half-time and Jota doing the same four minutes from the end after Rodrigo Muniz appeared to have sealed the win for Fulham. The home crowd appreciated their team’s determination to defy the odds, and were impressed by the tactical decisions made by Slot after the loss of Robertson, namely moving Gravenberch to centre-back to maximise his team’s potency. It worked.
On the last weekend before Christmas Liverpool gave their supporters a cracking present. The6-3 victory at Tottenhamwas a throwback to the Jürgen Klopp days in how thrilling the performance was by those in red, the only negative being the two goals the visitors allowed Spurs to score from 5-1. Nonetheless, Luis Díaz put the cap on a triumph that took Liverpool four points clear, and across London the previous day there had been a further notable moment in the title race when Bukayo Saka sustained a hamstring injury in Arsenal’s 5-1 victory at Crystal Palace that would sideline the wingerfor more than three months. Mikel Arteta’s side may well not have caught Liverpool even if Saka had stayed fit but his absence made the task especially difficult.
There were many impressive elements to Liverpool’s championship charge and perhaps none more than Slot’s ability to block out the noise regarding the futures of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold given all three star players were out of contract in the summer. But even the Dutchman must have been rattled when, on New Year’s Eve,Real Madrid made a £20m bidfor the full-back. It was the clearest indication yet that the club wanted the player and that, yes, the player wanted the club, and matters were not helped when the 26-year-old put in a stinker of a performance in Liverpool’s next game, the2-2 draw with Manchester Unitedat Anfield. Suddenly this saga felt like it had the ability to derail Liverpool’s season just as they headed into a busy and tricky run of fixtures.
Liverpool got through January largely unscathed. They then began February with an impressive win at Bournemouth and another dismantling of Spurs, this time in the Carabao Cup. But if that was the calm, then came the storm. A shock defeat by Plymouth in the FA Cup was followed by a gut-punching 2-2 draw with Everton in the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. That was followed by a shaky 2-1 home win against Wolves and a trip to Aston Villa that proved as difficult as many had predicted. Liverpool were 2-1 down and must have felt the ground giving way beneath them. But they equalised through Alexander-Arnold’s 61st-minute strike and, once again, haddisplayed title-winning mettle. This was a team that clearly had no intention of being knocked off their perch.
Arsenal reacted to Liverpool’s draw at Villa Park by losing at home to West Ham and drawing at Nottingham Forest. Across the same period, Slot’s sidebeat Manchester City 2-0at the Etihad Stadium andwon by the same scoreline against Newcastleat Anfield thanks to goals from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, who alongside Gravenberch were part of probably the most underrated midfield in Europe. An excellent unit in an excellent side who, in the blink of an eye, were 13 points clear with 10 games remaining. “It’s still a long way to go,” Slot insisted after the victory over Newcastle. Raucous chants of “We’re going to win the league” from the Kop told a different, more accurate story.
The arrival of spring should have been the start of a long celebration for Liverpool but instead they went out of the Champions League to Paris Saint-Germain and succumbed to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final. In the league they delivered somewhat underwhelming wins against Southampton and Everton before losing at Fulham. A great season was in danger of spluttering to a conclusion but then came a splurge of positivity in the shape of Salah and Van Dijk signing new contracts either side of the latter scoring a dramatic winner in a 2-1 home victory over West Ham.A standout moment for a standout performerwhich, together with the 1-0 win at Leicester the following week, whenAlexander-Arnold again made headlines, set up Liverpool’scrowning glory against Spursat Anfield.