Everything’s the Best: Test on the Horizon

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Liverpool’s quality will undergo a heightened test starting next week.

Liverpool are top of the table in the Premier League and will hold that spot until play resumes next week, following the international break. It is a position all Reds are happy and satisfied with, even if the feeling entering the season was that the team was a little light to be considered title challengers. Most reasonable fans, then, take this moment as gravy and are settled into watching how Arne Slot continues to implement is philosophy on a talented, if relatively small in comparison to Manchester City and Arsenal, squad.

But the current position on the league table presents a bit of a quandry for fans: while the results are far better than most could have expected (Slot’s tenure currently stands at 9 wins out of 10 matches), the grounding qualifier is that the the team’s schedule has been, to date, relatively light. Going nearly perfect out of the matches on hand can’t be dismissed - nor can the axiom that you can only beat who’s in front of you - but it is quite reasonable to ask for more before etching the team in as early contenders for the Premier League title.

Which brings us to the next few matches which will see the Reds face Chelsea, Brighton (twice), Arsenal, and Aston Villa, all with Champions League tilts against RB Leipzig mixed in. This will be, then, a test of the quality of the squad against stern opponents.

I won’t, however, give into the framing that it’s the first “true” test of the squad: earning a 90% win rate in this midst of a momentous transition both as an organization and externally with the adding of more fixtures, the past 10 matches have been enough evidence, for me, to note that this is a squad of real quality. Perhaps, though, the appropriate way to frame is that these upcoming fixtures are what will define if this team is ready for a title challenge, or if they’re just a bit early.

Which is still a win: being in the mix and pushing our name into conversations would have been a “nice to have” entering this season. We’re there. Status unlocked. And now, onto the next level.