2 days ago
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Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
Liverpool have a chance to make a big claim in the league.
Liverpool’s International Break has mostly been pretty even keeled - great performances from certain folks, others allowed to return home early, and yet more who were afforded time to stay on Merseyside with the team. The break ends tomorrow, though, with Liverpool kicking off a 6 day period which sees them play 3 matches - 2 of which against giants and recent rivals in the Champions League - Real Madrid - and Premier League - Manchester City.
This is yet one more rung up the climb towards silverware in an elite football club’s yearly campaign, and it is certainly a period that most of us will likely pay loads of attention to given the current state of both opposing clubs as well as Liverpool’s continued evolution under Arne Slot. Each test is meant to reveal something more about Liverpool and, thus far, what’s been discovered about us in the Arne Slot Era is that the team remains stubborn, mentally strong, but with a system that feels more stable and balanced.
It is tempting to look past tomorrow’s tilt against Southampton, then, because the marquee match-ups are mid-week and next weekend. But what’s on offer given this weekend’s results is Liverpool opening up an eight point lead at the top of the table over City and maintaining their nine point lead over Arsenal. If I’ve learned anything in the Reds’ constant battle with the Citizens for the league title it’s that there are no breaks and the margin for error is razor thin.
Right now, it is likely still too early to talk about the title - at least for me and the weirdly superstitious posture I often take when it comes to the sporting interests I keep. What is true, though, is that a title in this era of the Premier League generally means running the board against opponents like Southampton. It is why I’ve likened City to the Top Gun character Iceman: their superpower is to wear opponents down to the point that taking all three points feels almost inevitable on a weekly basis.
What does this mean for Sunday? Well, if the title chase over the last few years has told us anything, it’s that we’ve got to take advantage of the stumbles wherever they come from. Manchester City’s rather historic loss to Tottenham on Saturday means that we’ve been given a chance to run into some daylight. The task on Sunday, is appropriately enough, to race towards the sun.
