Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal: Are we Title Contenders?

Yesterday, Liverpool pulled off yet another huge win at Anfield. This one was perhaps the most impressive yet- the home side smashed 5 past the then league leaders Arsenal, and could have had 10 or 11! The win moves them to within 4 points of Manchester City, and just 6 off top spot. The result has left many suggesting that Liverpool are genuine title contenders.

This claim is, at least, nowhere near as ridiculous-sounding as it would have been at the start of the season. The very fact that this article can be written is a sign of how far the club has come in such a short space of time. However, realistically, it is unlikely that Liverpool will win the league this season. Their home form is astonishingly good- they have won 11 games at Anfield, drawn 1 and lost 1. This leaves their home points tally second to only Chelsea’s. Where things start to fall down is form on the road- Liverpool have picked up just 16 points on their travels, the same amount as 12^th placed Aston Villa. Unless our away form picks up, it is hard to see a scenario in which we are topping the table come the end of the season.

That said, when you look at the standard of play Liverpool have shown they are capable of, it is extremely hard to rule them out altogether. Arsenal, who as I just said are usually so good away from home, got absolutely ripped to shreds in yesterday’s match. Liverpool came out quickly and ferociously- within the first minute they had taken the lead through a Skrtel header. Inside 10 minutes the lead was doubled; Liverpool’s intensity did not slip for a moment, and Arsenal simply couldn’t deal with it. Skrtel provided it again, heading the ball extremely well right into the top corner. Sterling got the 3^rd just minutes later- he got on the end of an excellent ball by Suarez and poked it home. Before the 20 minute mark had been reached the game was as good as over- Coutinho produced one of the passes of the season for Daniel Sturridge, who finished extremely well. Early in the second half Sterling scored the 5^th and final Liverpool goal, beating Szczesny on the second attempt.

When the team play like this, it is hard to imagine them not winning the title! Coutinho was excellent throughout the game- his passing and dribbling were second to none. It appears he is finally fully back to his pre-injury form. Despite not scoring for once, Suarez was also in inspired form. Sturridge was excellent as usual, once again getting on the score sheet. Sterling’s electric pace caused the Arsenal defence many problems. The defence was also generally solid when called upon, something that hasn’t been the case all the time this season for Liverpool. If we can find a way to carry this form into our away games, then you would be a very foolish man to rule us out of the title race.

Sadly though, the fact is that we don’t play like that every game. The side that took apart the league leaders so effortlessly had been held to a 1-1 draw at 18^th placed West Brom the week before. Consistency is something that Liverpool are really struggling to find- it seems that they perform better against the bigger teams, and take it too easy against what should be easy opposition. We have an advantage over our rivals this season in that we are not in the Champions League- we should be making the most of this by ensuring that our intensity stays at the very highest level in every game we play.

There is also the issue of stupid errors- we saw one in the draw to West Brom when Kolo Toure gifted Anichibe the equalising goal, and we saw one from Gerrard yesterday. Although the latter was completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of the match, it was still an example of the kind of rashness that makes our potential push for 1^st much more of an uphill struggle. His sliding tackle in the box was needless- he was never going to get there, and he left the referee with one of the easiest penalty decisions he’ll ever have to make. This is the sort of thing that must go from Liverpool’s game sooner rather than later.

To sum up, we certainly have the potential in our squad to compete for the title, but whether or nor we will is another story altogether. The away form isn’t currently good enough for us to mount any sort of serious assault on 1^st place, and we will need to find a way of winning more often against the ‘smaller’ teams. Brendan Rodgers put it very nicely in the post-match interview: the Premier League this season can be considered a four-horse race, but Liverpool are just a foal.

-James Martin

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013