‘Let’s call it now – the title race is over, Liverpool will be champions’

Liverpool’s rain-soaked, jubilant supporters called it with 90 seconds remaining of a statement win over Manchester City.

As Liverpool won the game, the chant of “We’re going to win the league” washed out in the stands of empty sky blue seats at Etihad Stadium.

And they are right. The league will be won by Liverpool.

The “bread and butter” as they called it, which Liverpool’s great old managers Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, and Joe Fagan coveted above all others, will be rewarded for Arne Slot’s seamless transition from Jurgen Klopp.

The 2-0 win here, bolted on to Arsenal’s loss at home to West Ham on Saturday, means that, although there can be thousands of words spent on dancing around the subject, this season’s title race is done and dusted.

In recent years, Etihad Stadium has hosted numerous title celebrations. Another one appeared and sounded similar to this. The difference being this was Liverpool’s fans chanting “hand it over” rather than the playing out of another addition to Pep Guardiola’s roll of honour.

Football can be a strange, unpredictable game, and the race may not be run mathematically. With only 11 games left, a remorseless Liverpool team that has lost just one league this year, at home to Nottingham Forest in September, will lose an 11-point lead. This is not, however, so strange and unpredictable.

And seven of those games are at Anfield. The game is up for Arsenal. Their game in hand carries decreasing significance.

Slot, understandably, was cautious.

“In every other league, having a lead like would be very comfortable, but not in this league”, he said. Every game presents a challenge. Plymouth Argyle even took on us in the FA Cup.

Fans can sing whatever they want, but we are aware of how hard we work. After our draw at Aston Villa, someone inquired if we were taking a dip. I never believed that, and I’m not going to say anything right now.

At the top of the Premier League, seemingly insurmountable leads have been given, but few teams are as large as the one Liverpool currently holds. Not at this stage of the season.

The only instance that could be compared to was the 1997-98 campaign, when Manchester United were reeled in and 11 points clear of Arsenal on March 2.

However, they had already lost five games at that point and had proved they were far from infallible. The only flaw in their league record is that Liverpool lost to Forest.

And Mikel Arteta, who are destined to be the title race’s nearly men again, was a very different proposition from the fantastic Arsenal side that chased United down under Arsene Wenger.

How many points are they away from Arsenal if Guardiola effectively answered the question by declining to crown Liverpool champion? How many games have they lost? “

Say no more.

Before inviting every Liverpool player for a handshake, he made a point of warmly congratulating Slot at the final whistle. Guardiola was looking at a title-winning side right this time, and he did so.

Former England goalkeeper and Match of the Day pundit Joe Hart said, “Arsenal is in the title race, there is no way back.”

The statistics that demonstrate Liverpool’s superiority in so many important areas further underscore their dominance of this Premier League campaign.

With 64 goals, Slot’s machine has scored more goals than any other team. Liverpool are top of the shots, with 452, as well as shots on target, with 173.

As the table above shows, they aren’t just top of the league – they’re top of nearly every metric you could use to measure their success.

And Mohamed Salah, who scored his 30th goal of the season before adding the second for Dominik Szoboszlai, effectively seals the victory before half-time, is at the center of it all.

The “Egyptian King” has now attained 30 goals or more for Liverpool, bringing him level with Ian Rush and Roger Hunt in five years.

Salah also has 21 assists this season, a remarkable total of 51 contributions to goals before the end of February.

And a victory at Etihad Stadium, a historic moment in the year, might just taste a little sweeter because it came at the club, which had previously denied Liverpool in tight title races. Twice, a Guardiola-led City have done it to them on the final day.

Prior to this, Liverpool had only lost one of their previous 15 league games to City. Victory will have made up for those disappointments.

If the final weeks of this league season become a Liverpool procession, it wouldn’t come as a surprise.

Premature? Not really. Instead of red ribbons, the silverware is now a case of when.

Jurgen Klopp left an outstanding squad that was fit for a title tilt, helped and aided by Guardiola’s astonishing collapse, which helped them win four historic titles in a row.

Liverpool may not quite match Klopp’s so-called “heavy metal football” fireworks, but Slot’s addition of a ruthless efficiency has made them the whole package this season.

The ice-cold approach of Slot has now been combined with the Klopp-era’s thrills and emotions.

He succeeded an icon and significantly improved Liverpool.

The champions-elect had just 33.9% possession in the win at City, their lowest in a Premier League victory since current Opta records started in 2003-04.

They also had fewer shots, eight to City’s 16, and fewer touches inside the box, 27 to City’s 40.

” That was a proper business-like performance from Liverpool, “said Hart”. They appeared to have a backup plan in place for any threat City perceived to be minimal, assuming they had.

They did a great job of that, but everyone else ran their own business, which they believed they could control.

They had complete control of the pitch and felt at ease everywhere.

Although City may have had more possession, Alisson, the Liverpool keeper, was hardly ever on the lookout for it.