After a 3-0 loss to Manchester City, Liverpool’s championship defense has been in jeopardy as they have recorded five defeats in their last six league matches. The team’s head coach Arne Slot acknowledged that the players needed to “focus on getting wins first” as their Premier League campaign was going in the opposite direction of late November.
Slipping Standards and Statistical Reality
The Reds’ extraordinarily bright start has fallen apart. They have dropped their last five league matches in a row and currently sit eighth with 18 points from 11 games. According to the information given by ESPN, a team with 18 points at this point has never become the champion.
Moreover, their performance on the road is equally dreadful—four consecutive matches away from home have resulted in losses, a decline that the club has not seen since 2012. Although Virgil van Dijk is still positive, history tends to suggest that they do not have any room for error. Present OPTA predictions assign Liverpool only a 7% probability of making the comeback, as compared to Arsenal’s 63.6% and City’s 22.9%.
The Road Ahead for Redemption
Liverpool will be able to recover their energy through the games following the chilling statistics. Liverpool will meet such teams as Nottingham Forest, Leeds, and Fulham that are at the bottom of the table, and hence, they will be able to regain their rhythm again. After an intense summer of rebuilding which upset the team’s natural flow, it will mainly be a question of consistency.
Author’s Opinion
The Reds will probably not manage to keep their title dream for much longer, but it hasn’t been entirely extinguished yet. If Slot can somehow restore consistent performances and sharpen the team’s focus, the Reds could once again spark the fans’ faith and hope by January.
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