LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — The countdown is on for Liverpool to clinch a record-tying 20th English top-flight title.
It could even happen this weekend.
Should Arsenal lose at Ipswich early Sunday afternoon, Liverpool will get the chance to wrap up the Premier League championship a few hours later by beating Leicester.
Otherwise, the title could be confirmed on Wednesday when Arsenal hosts Crystal Palace — or the following weekend when Liverpool hosts Tottenham at Anfield.
It looks a certainty to happen, given Liverpool holds a 13-point lead with six games left. Needing just six more points to be certain, barring the unlikeliest of collapses, it's now a matter of when, not if.
Having led the way virtually all season, however, the Merseyside club is hardly powering to the finish line.
Uncertain finish
The big gap to Arsenal has taken the pressure off. Maybe that's why Liverpool hasn't been playing with the intensity the team has displayed for much of the campaign and is typically needed in a title run-in.
Recent wins at Anfield over Everton and West Ham were hardly convincing, while in between was a meek defeat to Fulham — just Liverpool's second Premier League loss of the campaign.
Throw in losses to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League and Newcastle in the League Cup final and Arne Slot's team has begun to stumble in recent weeks. Had second-place Arsenal been able to mount more of a challenge it could have made for a grandstand finish.
Instead, Mikel Arteta's team has saved its best for the Champions League — eliminating holder Real Madrid this week — while being held to draws by Everton and Brentford in the league. Arsenal has only won two of its last seven Premier League games, giving Liverpool the luxury of not having to be anywhere near its best at a time when its title credentials should have been put under pressure.
The record
A 20th league title would see Liverpool equal Manchester United's record and it looks well placed to go on a set a new benchmark before its great rival gets back into contention at the top of English soccer.
It was Liverpool that once held the record of 18 titles, but two decades of dominance for United under former manager Alex Ferguson saw the club win 13 league crowns from 1993-2013. Liverpool didn't win any titles in that time and ended a 30-year wait to be champion in 2020.
While title number 20 is now within touching distance, United is languishing in the bottom half of the standings and in need of a major rebuild under head coach Ruben Amorim. It hasn't been involved in a title race since Ferguson retired in 2013, despite second-place finishes in 2018 and 2021 when United was 19 and 12 points adrift, respectively, of champion Manchester City.
The future
Liverpool is already making plans for the future. Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have been tied to contract extensions, ending months of uncertainty and ensuring its two most influential players will remain at Anfield.
“Liverpool should be able to challenge for titles in the upcoming years,” Van Dijk said this week. “Whatever happens in terms of players going out, players coming in, I think it should be a big summer. I think they’re planning to make it a big summer, so we all have to trust the board to do the right job."
With City needing to replace the departing Kevin De Bruyne, while other key players like Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are in the latter stages of their careers, there is no guarantee Pep Guardiola will be able to mount a title challenge next season.
Arsenal, runner-up the past two seasons, is still to prove it can get over the line in a title race.
Liverpool, meanwhile, looks ahead of schedule in Slot's first year and should have significant amounts to spend in the transfer market after only making one signing in the last offseason — Federico Chiesa.
___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
The Associated Press
