Liverpool has nine Premier League games remaining before the end of Arne Slot’s first season in charge. And ahead of hosting Everton at Anfield, the Reds already know the maximum number of points they will need to get over the line.
Nerves fueled by the defeats to PSG in the Champions League last-16 and Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final should be put aside with a victory in the Merseyside derby. If that happens, the confirmation will feel tantalizingly close.
Arsenal, the team nearest to Liverpool in the Premier League table as things stand, is currently 12 points behind. Both the Gunners and Liverpool have played 29 games so far, with Mikel Arteta’s men having now welcomed back Bukayo Saka ahead of facing Fulham.
If Arsenal wins every one of its remaining games, it will end the season on 85 points. Liverpool can get up to 97 points with nine wins from nine, but it won’t need anything like that total.
For Liverpool to reach 86 points — one more than Arsenal can reach in its best-case scenario — it will need to win five times and draw once. The Reds, of course, still have to welcome their closest league title rival to Anfield, by which time it might already be wrapped up and mathematically confirmed.
Arsenal is yet to win more than three games on the spin this season and its hopes appeared to have faded when it lost at home to West Ham United a few weeks ago. “Very disappointed, obviously very angry as well,” Arteta said after that game.
(Image: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
“A lot from our side that we never got right. Even though we had 20 shots, I never felt we were at the standard and the level we needed to have more threat. We have to be angry. I hope we are very much. I am very much responsible. I am very, very angry.”
Liverpool still has to play Everton, West Ham, Spurs, Arsenal and Crystal Palace at Anfield. It also travels to Fulham, Leicester, Chelsea and Brighton.
Arsenal has Fulham, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Newcastle at home. It will also play Everton, Ipswich, Liverpool and Southampton away, plus has a two-legged tie coming up against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Liverpool.com says: The Reds are going to get over the line in the Premier League and when that happens, the celebrations will be incredible. Whenever it happens, it will be special. Securing the title by winning a game, though, would be the ideal scenario. That’s the best way to have it confirmed rather than Arsenal dropping points.
