Arne Slot embraces a smiling Mohamed Salah following the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD5 match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid C.F. at Anfield
The member of staff at the Premier League who engraves names on trophies might not be on standby just yet, but those at Liverpool could quietly be checking to see if they are still on the same phone number as 2020.
Eleven points clear now of a Manchester City side who are at their lowest-ever ebb under Pep Guardiola, the stars could just be aligning for Arne Slot in his maiden campaign in English football. Could they really go on and win this title now?
There’s a lot of football to be played before Slot himself will start truly believing the hype, but how could supporters - even this set; so often burned by false dawns, near falls and close calls - not allow themselves a daydream or two now?
Related Articles
Liverpool moment seconds before Pep Guardiola meltdown speaks volumes about Arne Slot's side
Liverpool player ratings as three sensational and six others excellent vs Man City
A week from the heavens has seen them sweep aside the champions of Europe and England in Real Madrid and Manchester City with as minimum fuss as is possible for two heavyweights of the sport. Four goals scored, zero conceded; it’s the stuff of dreams for Slot, who has to be pinching himself at how his 20 games as head coach have gone.
Only in his wildest dreams will it have gone this way. For the record, it’s now 18 wins, one draw at Arsenal and that solitary aberration at home to Nottingham Forest.
Victories for Chelsea and Arsenal this weekend means the Reds are in now possession of a nine-point advantage and maybe the leaders should be readjusting their thinking about who their main challengers actually are for this crown? That’s how steep City’s drop has been in recent weeks. Having been the title scourge of Anfield for so long, sympathy was in short supply here as goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah secured a remarkable seven days for this football club.
Liverpool made their sharpest start of the season, flying out of the traps and overwhelming their beleaguered visitors, who had few answers for the reserves of energy on show.
The outstanding Dominik Szoboszlai, who was the hosts' midfield chaser-in-chief, had a couple of efforts before the breakthrough deservedly came when Gakpo tapped in after Salah had put it on a plate for his 11th assist of the season.
The goal came after Virgil van Dijk had headed against the inside of the post and before Trent Alexander-Arnold had clipped the outside of it when controlling a half-cleared corner on the edge of the box.
A struggling Nathan Ake just about got enough on it to deny Salah racing clear through after a bewitching ball in behind from an excellent Alexander-Arnold, who was as defensively sound as he was inventive from an attacking sense.
The vice-captain seemed determined to leave his mark on his return to the side after nearly a month out and the ovation received in the second half as he made way for Jarell Quansah was well earned.
For a fanbase so accustomed to titanic battles with their visitors in the last half-dozen years or so, it was likely jarring to see just how out-of-sorts and fearful Guardiola's men looked. As Liverpool's midfield swarmed them, passes became loose, touches became heavy and chances were at a premium. Rico Lewis's poked effort was as close as they came by virtue of it being their only shot in the first period.
For all of the hosts' dominance with the ball, the shooting opportunities and the actual scoreline, though, it was a moment in the 36th minute that laid bare just how bereft of ideas and confidence Guardiola's City are right now.
A chance to deliver a free-kick into the box was instead taken short for some rare possession in the final third, only for them to get pushed further and further back before lumping forward a hopeful punt that drifted harmlessly to Caoimhin Kelleher. It was a passage of play which was cheered ironically by the home ends.
If City spent the first 45 minutes discombobulated by the noise and the intensity, they regained some composure after the break and began to keep the ball in Liverpool's third for longer spells.
But full credit to the defensive shape and concentration of the hosts, who displayed why they are the most miserly around this term by refusing to cough up even half chances to a team who have won the title for the last four seasons.
Erling Haaland, the most feared striker in European football, was an isolated passenger and Joe Gomez, on his return to the side in place of the injured Ibrahima Konate, can take most of the plaudits. He excelled alongside Van Dijk, whose imperious form goes on.
The Reds were more than content to soak up the pressure in the second half and they still carried a threat on the counter-attack. Never more so than when substitute Darwin Nunez harried Ruben Dias into a mistake that gave Luis Diaz the freedom of City's half before he was bundled over by stand-in goalkeeper Stefan Ortega for a penalty. Unlike Wednesday night against Real Madrid, Salah dispatched it to double the advantage.
“It’s a Jerry Maguire moment,” said Daniel Sturridge of his former team-mate and his contract situation on Sky Sports. “‘Show me the money!’ A player of Mohamed Salah’s quality deserves the contract. Whether it is two or three years, you’ve got to pay him.” It's hard to argue.
Salah’s goal, his 13th of the season, was the cue for Liverpool fans to indulge themselves with some tongue-in-cheek references to a City side who are now without a win in seven, with six defeats part of an unwanted sequence that may just have ended their domestic hopes.
"You're getting sacked in the morning," they sang. Schadenfreude turned up to 11, you might say. "I didn't expect it from the people from Liverpool but it's fine," was Guardiola's response. "It’s part of the game, and I understand completely. We've had incredible battles together. I have a respect for them."
Having scaled the top of the Premier League mountain, the task for Slot and his players for the rest of the campaign now is to prove that it is not made of glass. Whatever happens, though, this is a week that will live long in the memory.