Deal with it Manchester United fans, the Premier League title will be Liverpool’s – whether the current season ever gets completed or not, says Mark Keohane writing for IOL Sport.
The custodians of the Premier League are insistent that everything will be done to ensure the season gets finished and would not commit to a timeline.
All Premier League fixtures were initially suspended on March 9th because of the Covid-19 virus and English soccer’s bosses were hopeful of matches starting again on May 1. The continued increase in Covid-19 infections and deaths in the United Kingdom meant the May 1 resumption was not a realistic option and a few days ago a further statement confirmed that the Premier League would start again when the situation was safe.
Liverpool, who enjoyed a staggering 25 league point advantage when all play was halted, needed just six points, which is two league wins from nine remaining matches. This is taking into account that Manchester City, currently in second place, don’t lose again. City have lost seven times this season in the league, as opposed to Liverpool’s solitary defeat against Watford.
Liverpool have not won English domestic football’s premier title in 30 years and in those three decades arch rivals Manchester United have surpassed Liverpool as the most successful team domestically in England.
There is no love lost between supporters of Manchester United and Liverpool, and Manchester United social media trolls have been leading the charge for the season to be declared void, despite Liverpool’s 25-point advantage.
Premier League bosses have not publicly entertained the prospect of ending the season prematurely and the postponement of the 2020 Euros has allowed for an extended window for the last nine rounds of the competition to be completed.
The refusal to make a decision now is based more on the potential legal complications of who gets demoted to and promoted from the Championship. It has less to do with Liverpool’s claim to be champions in waiting.
The anti-Liverpool lobbyists have been stirring emotions in the hope of denying Liverpool supporters and players the title, based on the most ludicrous argument that Liverpool could lose the final nine matches. It is insane and no reasonable football supporter or authority would offer such an eventuality as an argument.
Media reports a week ago suggested that the authorities would confirm Liverpool as champions should it become impossible to resume play for this season. They would also promote the top two Championship teams, as the league currently stands, and not demote any of the bottom placed three Premier League teams. They would play a 22-team 2020-21 tournament and relegate five teams to restore the 20-team Premier League in 2021-22.
Liverpool supporters en-masse are unanimous that the 25-point advantage with nine matches to play is enough to warrant their team being crowned champions of England. Ironically, club legend and former England international John Barnes says it would be wrong to make Liverpool the champions and that if the season was not completed it should be scrapped without any champion, relegation or promotion.
Barnes is in the minority and another of Liverpool’s icons, Robbie Fowler, insisted it would be an injustice to deny Liverpool the title.
Fowler got support from Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, who said it would only be sporting to acknowledge Liverpool’s superiority.
Fowler said that not only should Liverpool be given the title, he added they were the best team in history to have won the Premier League.
Fowler said the 25-point advantage already made them champions.
‘I can’t believe there is a fan in the country who doesn’t recognize that Liverpool deserve to be champions. They are effectively the Premier league winners already. They have played the greatest season ever in top-flight English football history,’ said Fowler of a Liverpool team that won a record 18 league matches in succession and has drawn just one and lost one in 29 starts.
Fowler, in an interview with the Daily Mirror, added: ‘Even the most bitter of rival fans would argue they shouldn’t be given the title if the season was to end now. For anyone arguing that Liverpool shouldn’t be the champions, just look at their record. They’ve dropped five points all season. FIVE!
‘’Hell, I once scored 16 goals in a game for a schoolboy team I played in – got more than 100 goals in total – and yet I am pretty sure we dropped more than five points that season. They are the worthiest of champions. They are record-breakers and, yep, I am saying they’ve won it.’
Fowler also emphasized that when play restarted Liverpool could in fact not need another league point and still win the title.
‘If City were to lose two more between now and the theoretical end of the season, the points Liverpool have now would be enough,’ said Fowler.
‘If Liverpool won on their return and City lost, then it would be over with eight matches to play.’
Liverpool, who lost out to Manchester City by one league point last season, also only lost one match in that league campaign. However, the difference this season is that City have been beaten seven times.
Liverpool, as it stands, would break Manchester United’s record of how many matches played in securing the title. United’s title-winning 2001 success was completed with five games to go, which is the fastest in the competition’s history.
Liverpool, in this campaign, have beaten every team, and with four of their nine remaining matches to be played at Anfield, where they have not lost in 54 league matches dating back to April, 2017, only the village idiot would consider the possibility of them not getting six out of a possible 27 points on offer.
A British government survey in the past week confirmed these idiots are in the minority. The survey showed one in every three Brits (36%) believed Liverpool should be given the title, compared with 17% who did not agree. A high proportion of Brits (42%) felt they didn’t know enough to comment, but when the non-football followers were excluded, 68 percent declared Liverpool rightful champions if there wasn’t another ball kicked in the season.
And rightly so!
Best start ever
When Liverpool reached 61 points from their opening 21 matches, it was the most a team had ever accumulated at that stage in any of Europe’s top five leagues. They went on to extend their record, winning their following six fixtures to rack up 79 points from their first 27 matches before losing at Watford.
Most points won over 38 matches
With their 1-0 win at Tottenham Hotspur on 11 January, Liverpool set a record of 104 points from 38 Premier League matches, beating the 102 achieved by Manchester City and Chelsea, ending in 2018 and 2005 respectively.
Biggest lead at the top
Liverpool’s 25-point lead is the biggest ever in English top-flight history.
Most home wins in a row
Liverpool’s win against AFC Bournemouth at Anfield on March 7th was a home record 22nd, beating Man City’s record of 20, achieved between 2011 and 2012.
[This story was originally seen on IOL]
