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The hunt for invincibility begins anew this evening as Liverpool take on West Ham United at the London Stadium in the Premier League.
If Liverpool go undefeated in their next eight games, they will face reigning league champions Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on April 4 to equal Arsenal’s 2003/2004 record of 49 games undefeated – if the schedule remains as is.
The question though is: do they care for that invincible tag?
The Big Picture
The Red’s need 27 points from 15 games to officially claim their first Premier League title.
The earliest they can win the title is dependent on the two Citys’ (Manchester and Leicester) performance over the next couple of games. The more points theses two teams drop, the earlier Liverpool can win the league, provided they bag all their points along the way.
If lady luck adorns herself with the red of the phoenix, Liverpool could secure it at Watford on February 29 or, if she’s feeling a little competitive, they could wait for one of their five league games scheduled to be played before mid-April – including that mouth-watering City encounter.
The FA Cup dilemma
In Tuesday’s pre-match press conference Jürgen Klopp was at pains to explain why his senior team will be given a break when they take on Shrewsbury in the FA Cup replay. This means the u23 Liverpool team will take to the field with their coach Neil Critchley on the sidelines.
“We have to make this standpoint, so it is clear,” Klopp told reporters.
“The mid-season break is now something that needs to be settled for the next years. All the parties need to come together and find a solution, so it is not like this again. That is just not how it should be.”
Klopp lamented the number of games his team has had to play, as well as the absurd scheduling that takes place among the most watched football games.
He also said that, even with the u23’s, Liverpool are still in the hunt for FA Cup glory next week, but alluded to being concerned if they make it through and their league fixtures change again - which might be the case if there is another replay in the fifth round.
The fifth round begins on March 5 and if the Red’s make it through, they will face Chelsea on that day. If they make it through that they will play the quarterfinals on March 21, provided there is no fifth-round replay.
March 21 is also the day they are slated to play Crystal Palace, but that game will be moved if Liverpool go that far in the FA Cup.
The Champions League conundrum
Klopp will also need to contend with two Champions League fixtures against Atlético Madrid on February 18 and March 11. This is without doubt the team’s second priority given that they are defending champions.
If they pass this test, they will then have an April dominated by two quarterfinal clashes (April 7/8 and 14/15) and potentially a semifinal first-leg on either April 28/29.
Victims of their own success
If Liverpool keep winning, they will most certainly run into old foes of the English game - fatigue and injury - which could hamper their chances of lifting other trophies besides the league.
This year, for the first time in Premier League history, there will be a mid-season break which will see Liverpool not play any league games from February 2 to February 14.
With barely any break for the first team players this season, signs of fatigue and injury have started to creep in, notably that of Sadio Mané who asked to be replaced against Wolves last week after holding his leg and walking off gingerly.
Mané would have become the sixth Liverpool player to rack up 2 500 minutes of playing time had he not been subbed last week, with Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Roberston leading the quintet with 2 940 and 2 824 minutes respectively. Both have played more minutes than any player in the Premier League’s top three teams and every team currently leading Europe’s top five leagues.
This includes Van Dijk and Robertson missing at least five games so far this season.
West Ham twice in a month
On paper tonight’s game against the Hammers should be easy-peasy, however this fixture is their first meeting in the league this season after the original was postponed from December 21 due to Liverpool’s Club World Cup commitments – which they won.
They are also slated to take the Hammers on at Anfield on February 24 for the return leg.
Prior to December 21 West Ham were already looking shaky and were hovering four points above the relegation zone. They sacked coach Manuel Pellegrini after they lost to Leicester at home which took them to one point shy of the relegation zone.
His replacement David Moyes hasn’t made much impact yet.
They have hovered in and around the drop zone since then, currently sitting in 17 position on the table.
In a six-way battle for survival, West Ham will only be thinking of keeping their goal difference respectable – considering they were thrashed last week 4-1 by Leicester. Their goalkeeping woes, however, may end if Lukasz Fabianski is declared fit after again suffering an injury earlier this year.
But playing at the London Stadium is never easy as City Press found out when the Hammers took on cross-town rivals Tottenham Hotspurs in a derby match that was also Jose Mourinho’s first game back, in November last year.
Spurs ran out 3-2 winners but not after The Irons’ faithful cheered their team on to the very end.
What all this means for Liverpool
It’s simple: Don’t chase invincibility, chase trophies.
Klopp said it best at yesterday’s press conference: “We want to play as often as possible but that’s the key word - ‘Possible’. You cannot play constantly.”
Liverpool will be without Mané for tonight’s game and that might force even more changes for Klopp, who would be looking to rest more of his senior team players given that their next game is against high-flying Southampton on February 1.
Southampton sit 9th on the log and have beaten Chelsea, Spurs and Leicester since Christmas to make the jump from 17 to within the top 10 in exactly a month.
Player management and fitness management will be critical for Liverpool if they are to compete for more trophies this season, but with Klopp at the helm the Kop will surely feel Konfident.
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