While Liverpool supporters may be basking in the joy of being top of the Premier League at Christmas, Arne Slot is staying persistent in making sure his players remain focussed.
This season marks the 21st time that Liverpool have spent Christmas night leading the top flight. It’s a feat they have achieved more than any other, but everyone knows the real prize comes in May.
Liverpool may have only won the won title since 1990, but there have been several occasions when the Reds have been top on December 25.
This year, they have an advantage of four points and a game in hand on Chelsea – the same number of points they led by in 2018 and 2020, two occasions on which they didn’t win the title.
While we tend to think of the Christmas leaders as the resultant winners in May, that actually hasn’t been the case in recent years, with Man City often improving in the second half of the season.
In the one campaign (2019/20) out of the last six that Pep Guardiola’s side have been beaten to the Premier League title, Liverpool already had an 11-point buffer over Man City and just one fewer to second-place Leicester.
In fact, Liverpool even had an eight-point buffer on Man City at Christmas in the 2020/21 season, before the Reds eventually finished 17 points behind them.
While Slot’s current 12-point head start on Guardiola seems far sturdier than some of Liverpool’s leads in past seasons, the fact Chelsea and Arsenal are just four and six behind respectively should serve as great enough warning for the Reds to avoid decelerating.
Liverpool’s coach clearly thinks similar and hasn’t got carried away with his team’s lead at the top.
Asked if being top at Christmas means anything to him, Slot replied: “Of course, it means something because you always prefer to be where we are at the moment than to be in another position in the league table.
“You know, just as well as I know because I’ve won the league once, how hard it is to win it. You have to keep on going, keep on going.
“Every three days you have to be on top of your game, every minute of the game. That’s why it is so hard to win it because it’s not always easy to show up every three or four days.
“We saw last week, in a moment you can get a red card – which was quite a debate afterwards, not by me but by other people – and these things can happen in a season.
“At Newcastle, at 3-2 up you expect to win it and there was a situation and we drop two points. That’s the Premier League.
“I didn’t expect Chelsea to drop points today as well, so it can happen in every game and that’s what makes this league so special.”
That may be what makes the division special, but we would rather Liverpool made it that little bit more boring for everyone else on Thursday night.
