Liverpool moved another step closer to a 20th top-flight title with fans declaring: ‘We’re gonna win the Football League again', as the team beat Newcastle United comfortably and extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to 13 points.
The Kop brought out the old songbook to serenade their side in anticipation of being able to witness, in 88 days’ time, what these supporters haven’t witnessed at Anfield, ranked at No.3 in FourFourTwo's list of the best football stadiums in Britain, for 35 years: their side lifting the title aloft.
Truth be told, winning the title in 2020 and finally ending the Reds’ 30-year drought stung more than it should, the trophy being presented in front of an empty Anfield at the height of the pandemic. For a generation of fans, it was more than anticlimactic.
‘We’re gonna win the league’
Winning the title with seven games to play, the earliest English top-flight title win in history, should have resulted in unprecedented scenes of celebration as Jurgen Klopp’s side were given seven guards of honours, every matchday a party and an occasion to celebrate the heroes of a record-breaking campaign.
Instead, the unprecedented scenes were of a team lifting the trophy on The Kop and season ticket holders watching on TV. The day that so many had dreamed of, anticipated, counted down to and longed for, arrived but didn’t provide the ending that fans should have had.
Back in 2020, the first echoes of ‘we’re gonna win the league’ rang out from The Kop seconds after a Mo Salah goal in a 2-0 win over Man United in January that gave Jurgen Klopp’s side a 16-point lead. Such a chant had never dared to be aired before then and the proclamation heralded the accession of a new King on the throne and the imminent arrival of a 19th league title at Anfield.
It’s been a little longer this time, with the travelling Kop giving the pronouncement its first airing after the win at Man City on Sunday, but it’s hard to believe that Arne Slot’s side has such a lead in his first season in charge that supporters can even be thinking of chanting something usually reserved for a time when the belief is that the title is truly secured. And that it will surely be in 10 games’ time.
It’s hard to believe that Arne Slot’s side has such a lead in his first season in charge that supporters can even be thinking of chanting something usually reserved for a time when the belief is that the title is truly secured. And that it will surely be in 10 games’ time.
Supporters instead have started to ponder at which game the title might actually be won, a trip to Chelsea on May Bank Holiday weekend is one strong potential, which would mean a guard of honour from the visiting Arsenal side a week later at Anfield.
‘Hand it over Manchester’ sang The Kop.
On the pitch, Liverpool controlled the game, with Newcastle failing to register a shot on target. This was despite it being the Reds’ fifth game in 15 days.
For Slot, that was the most impressive part. “A big compliment to the players how they handled these games,” he praised post-match. “We weren’t perfect but the mentality was great again, as was the squad performance – not just the team performance.”
The Dutchman will now give his players two days off before a trip to Paris for the Champions League last-16 next week and the start of another huge fortnight that sees four games in 12 days that cumulates with the Carabao Cup final against this Newcastle side.
Eddie Howe, though, is hoping his team will have their key man back for that final. Alexander Isak was on the sidelines at Anfield but not in the squad after a late call on his fitness. Howe expects the 19-goal forward will be available for the Wembley showdown in just over two weeks’ time, saying he doesn’t expect it to be a “big problem” for Isak: “It goes without saying how important he is and I think you could see that.”
This one really will mean more to those supporters who have waited and yearned for 35 years, through ups, downs, false dawns, near-misses, slips, tears and even a pandemic
Newcastle will be a different proposition with Isak in the side as they attempt to stop this Liverpool juggernaut from claiming their first silverware under Slot. But then, few at Anfield would be too upset if they did, attentions will quickly return to the title procession and a countdown to May 25th - the day Liverpool lift their 20th title.
After the manner of the 19th title lift, this one really will mean more to those supporters who have waited and yearned for 35 years, through ups, downs, false dawns, near-misses, slips, tears and even a pandemic.
May 25th already has such significance for Liverpool supporters, being known as Istanbul Day, but this year the 20th anniversary of that miracle against AC Milan will become the day many ghosts of Liverpool's Premier League past are finally laid to rest.
