Liverpool’s title is a formality but it’s compelling because it’s new
MARCH 21, at home to Crystal Palace. All things being equal, that is when Liverpool will win the league. This presumes they take full points from here, as do Manchester City. Obviously, there is more chance of the former than the latter.
If City slip up again, as happened at Tottenham on Sunday, Liverpool’s happy day could be brought forward — maybe even to Monday, March 16, and the derby at Goodison Park.
And when the inevitable happens, no doubt it will be said that 2019-20 delivered a poor league. That such a procession has been predictable to watch and confirms only an inferior competition. Look at the major leagues in Europe, it will be argued. Look at the vibrant competition, teams separated by a single win, in some cases only a draw.
Liverpool’s record-breaking campaign will be rubbished, as many of Manchester City’s achievements were across the previous two seasons.
So, yes, let’s look at those wonderful European leagues. For there is one thing that can be said when Liverpool win the Premier
League: you will never have seen anything like it. Not just the points total, which is on course to be a record, or the margins and the date of the achievement — no league will have been won earlier, if Liverpool remain on course. It is the very fact of Liverpool winning the Premier League that is new. It has never happened before. Not in this modern era. Liverpool’s last title was 1990, in the old Division One. A person would have to be pushing 35 to have any great memory of it.
And for all the closeness of the races in the major European leagues, as of this morning, the status quo prevails. In Germany, Bayern Munich are top by a single point, but will win the league for an eighth consecutive time if they hold on.
The second-placed team, RB Leipzig, should be heralded for challenging the establishment but are in fact the most hated club in Germany for coming from new money. Incredibly, it is preferred that the pinnacle of German football remains a closed shop.
In Italy, despite the resurgence of Inter Milan under Antonio Conte, Juventus now have a cushion of three points and would record their ninth consecutive title win, which is probably why chairman Andrea Agnelli is desperate to form a European Super League, having succeeded in turning the world away from one of the continent’s great competitions by making it among the most boring.
Paris Saint-Germain’s chances of success are every bit as guaranteed as Liverpool’s, except they are not as good, so only lead Ligue 1 by 12 points from Marseille. It will be their third straight title, but also their seventh in the last eight seasons, with 2016-17 the sole aberration.
If it was foretold that PSG would win the next 10 campaigns from here, nobody would be in the least surprised. Decades of
tight financial regulation left the French domestic game in no position to resist this level of investment from Qatar. All the new owners did was push against an open door.
Leaving Spain, where real Madrid are three points clear of barcelona and going for their 34th title and their second in four years. Atletico Madrid in 2013-14 are the only interlopers over 16 years in which the title has been shared by the big two. It’s a competition, of sorts, but does not compare to the Premier League.
When Liverpool are crowned they will be the fifth different club to claim the title in eight seasons, joining Manchester united, Manchester City, Chelsea and Leicester. Arsenal and Tottenham, maybe even Everton and Wolves, will all consider themselves capable in future in a way that Spain’s supporting cast will not.
So this is a great campaign, if not a greatly competitive one, because it brings the new. Many were presuming after Manchester City became the first team to retain the title since Manchester united in 2009 that we would be witnessing a long period of dominance. yet City trail Liverpool by 22 points, with few convinced of Pep guardiola’s permanence, despite his assurances.
Perhaps Mauricio Pochettino will be his replacement, which would be a coup, but even so there is much rebuilding to be done to compete with Liverpool next season.
And in many ways it is a shame that jurgen klopp’s team have no serious challenger. great champions — and Liverpool are going to be among the greatest champions whether they remain unbeaten or not — also need great rivals to define them. Liverpool performed this service for Manchester City last season.
Future generations must only study the team who came second to know how wonderful guardiola’s team were. Look at what they had to beat. Liverpool’s points total in 2018-19 makes them the finest team not to win the league.
yet 12 months on, Liverpool have been left to make their own legend. Arsenal and Manchester united are nowhere, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City have increasingly been left behind. Only Leicester and Sheffield united can be absolved for greatly exceeding expectation.
However, any league in which Sheffield united are strong Europa League contenders — for all their admirable qualities and the brilliant stewardship of Chris Wilder — is not displaying strength in depth. It remains, though, considerably more compelling than its equivalents in Europe, where there is once again little new to see.
We may one day get bored with klopp’s Liverpool sweeping the competition away — but we thought that would be true of guardiola and City, too. It’s the reason foreign audiences are in thrall to our game and why those boring European one- club elites keep devising new ways to try to kill it.