With a win over Tottenham on Wednesday, Chelsea FC can go eight points clear of Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table. It begs the question, can anyone catch Antonio Conte’s men at this point? Historically, the team at the top come Christmas has had good fortune, with six of the last seven champions holding that holiday position.
Chelsea’s impressive winning streak has seen them consistently beat anyone they’ve come up against. Something the team right behind them has struggled with. Liverpool has been brilliant against some of the Premier League’s best teams. In fact, they even beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier this season. But while Chelsea has beaten teams like Burnley, Bournemouth, and Sunderland; Liverpool has dropped points against all three. Liverpool would have eight more points this season had they picked up wins against those three teams, an interesting fact considering Chelsea could be eight points ahead if they win Wednesday.
For any team, it’s easier said than done to beat teams beneath you in the table. But Liverpool seems unique in this problem. In the past few years, the club has seemed to excel at beating the big teams, but always tend to trip over their own laces against the bottom half of the table.
[link_box id=”23195″ site_id=”158″ layout=”link-box-third” alignment=”alignright”]Last season, Liverpool picked up only one point against Newcastle United, as well as losses to Crystal Palace, Swansea, and Watford. They finished eighth. The season prior to that, two losses to Crystal Palace coupled with defeats to Hull, Newcastle, and Aston Villa meant they finished outside the top four. In their amazing second place season in 2013, Liverpool lost to Hull City and dropped points to Newcastle and West Brom. And then at the end of the season, Liverpool gave up a three goal lead within the final minutes to Crystal Palace to completely destroy their title hopes that season.
This season, things are getting better. Liverpool is a noticeably better side under Jürgen Klopp. Most Liverpool fans would have been happy to be second at the start of the new year. However, there has to be this nagging feeling that the club could be much more than they currently are.
Over this past weekend, Liverpool stymied Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team. Klopp’s team was organized and kept City’s attack from generating any more than 9 shots and not all of those were on target. Fast forward a few days and Liverpool drew 2-2 against relegation threatened Sunderland. Against the Black Cats, Liverpool was undisciplined, giving away two penalties to a team that has struggled to score all season. Perhaps it was the fatigue of the cramped holiday fixture list, but Sunderland isn’t an opponent someone in a title race can be dropping points to. Also, Sunderland had to deal with a similar fixture list so it wasn’t like Liverpool was the only who had to deal with that.
This week has been a microcosm of Liverpool’s season. After taking one step forward, the Reds always seem to take a step back. To be fair, a title charge this season is going to be exceedingly difficult, with Chelsea looking unstoppable. But whether or not Chelsea’s championship is inevitable, it would be much more palatable for Liverpool if their losses this season came against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City rather than the likes of Burnley and Bournemouth.
Liverpool has shown the ability, but it’s the consistency that has gotten them into trouble. Liverpool is 3-0-0 against the top four this year, that’s the kind of record you see for a championship winning side.
It is unfair to Liverpool to chastise them for not keeping pace with a team that has won 13 consecutive Premier League matches but the Merseyside club has aspirations of being the best team in England. There is an old saying that to be the best, you have to beat the best. Liverpool has had no problem with that. For them, to be the best you have to stop dropping points to Sunderland. But that doesn’t have the same ring to it.
