Following last week Opta came out with a staggering prediction for the season. Their number crunchers reckoned that Liverpool have an 85 percent chance of winning the Premier League. It’s a massive number with two-thirds of the Premier League campaign left to be played but the Reds looked imperious following their win over Manchester City. The Merseyside giants received a small reality check at Newcastle United on Wednesday night. The title race is far from over.
The 3-3 draw at Newcastle means Liverpool’s lead at the top of the league table has been cut down to seven points. It is still a significant lead but it doesn’t look unassailable any more.
Liverpool have a busy run of games in December and no one knows how small or big the lead would be at the end of the festive period. More importantly, injuries are starting to bite and could become a massive issue in the coming weeks.
Ibrahima Konate’s knee injury has forced Liverpool to break up a defensive partnership that looked imperious in the first few months of the season. There is no timeline on the Frenchman will be returning and Arne Slot has been forced to draft in Joe Gomez to partner Virgil van Dijk at the heart of their defence.
The Englishman looked jittery and Liverpool no longer seemed as safe at the back as they did when Konate was partnering Van Dijk in defence in the first few months of the season.
Gomez looks undercooked and it is natural as he hardly played before the Frenchman was injured and has now been thrusted into the spotlight in the busiest period of the season.
It’s the injuries stupid!
Slot has been insisting that the title race is not over despite such suggestions as he has been in football for too long to understand nothing is won in December.
With injuries piling up, Liverpool’s squad are finally getting stretched and it is in defence that they are looking shakier than before because of the issues.
Gomez will need to step up in the absence of Konate but his performance at Newcastle didn’t provide much encouragement to Liverpool fans. They also need Trent Alexander-Arnold to get back to peak fitness soon as Jarell Quansah looked nervous at right-back.
Caoimhin Kelleher has picked up plaudits for his performances over the last few weeks in the absence of Alisson Becker but against Newcastle, he showed why he failed to dislodge the Brazilian in the last five years.
Can you name the team Liverpool sold these players to?
The Ireland goalkeeper could have done better to stop Anthony Gordon’s shot from going into the net and was directly responsible for Fabian Schar’s late equaliser when he misread the flight of the ball.
With the defence looking shaky, Liverpool need Alisson’s assurance in between the sticks but he has yet to fully recover from a hamstring injury he suffered in October.
Liverpool can ill afford to lose more players to injuries and Slot needs some of the players on the sideline to get back soon as the season could unravel quickly.
