The weekend of February 22/23, 2025 was perhaps _the_ turning point of the race for the championship.
Liverpool were in the midst of a gruelling top-flight run of five matches in 15 days that included away fixtures at Everton, Villa and here, reigning champions Manchester City.
If the magnitude of the trip to City were not already big enough, the Reds’ closest pursuers in the table, Arsenal, suffered a 1-0 home defeat by West Ham United on the Saturday.
An 11-point advantage at the top would be the Reds’ reward for winning at Etihad Stadium on the Sunday.
An inventive corner-kick routine led to Salah sweeping Slot’s men into the lead during the first half in Manchester, and the Egyptian then set up Dominik Szoboszlai to make it 2-0.
Cushion secured, the visitors were consummately organised and defensively diligent to see out that scoreline with little jeopardy and open up the double-figures gap to the Gunners.
A statement win, as they say.
“It’s special,” Salah stated post-match. “We need another title for sure, me and the big guys here in the team. We need another title. We’ll give it our best, we’ll give it a good shot and we’ll see.”
**Diogo wins the Merseyside derby**
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March, though, had not been Liverpool’s month.
Elimination from the Champions League last 16 on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain was followed by defeat in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley, which was followed by a 17-day spell without a fixture.
So, when the campaign resumed with a Merseyside derby against Everton at Anfield on April 2 – and with Arsenal having already won the night before – for many it felt like the Reds needed something of a kickstart.
The Blues, of course, had no intention to bow to that desire and with almost an hour elapsed the game was in stalemate and the visitors had gone closest to breaking it, Beto striking the post during the first half.
But a moment of outstanding quality from Jota settled the contest – the forward deftly weaving through several challenges and sliding a finish home – and added three important points to Liverpool’s total at what could otherwise have been a little crossroads in the title race.
The huge reaction inside the ground reflected the significance. “I think that was one of the loudest I’ve heard Anfield since I’m here at Liverpool,” said the goalscorer.