It’s a fact that irks Liverpool fans everywhere. Yes, the Reds have enjoyed a trophy-laden existence with a haul of top honours punctuating an illustrious history. Yet never have the Anfield giants won the Premier League.
And despite having won more silverware than the majority of teams who visit Merseyside, away fans are quick to call into question the lack of a Premier League crown. So, is Jurgen Klopp the man to bring the holy grail to parade before the adoring fans on the Kop?
Well, if Manchester City weren’t in the equation you could probably take a punt on the affirmative and answer an unequivocal “yes”. But the thing is, they are; and they are top, unbeaten and show very few signs of buckling any time soon as the top-flight season unfolds. But, and it is a reasonably-sized “but”, granted, if they do decide to implode and throw away the lead at the summit, Liverpool are really the only credible team poised to pounce. They are, after all, just two points behind Pep Guardiola’s side.
And they did their chances no harm with a spirited 3-1 over Sean Dyche’s Burnley last night in the Premier League at Turf Moor. James Milner, Roberto Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri all hit home for the Reds after the visitors had trailed through Jack Cork’s strike for the home side.
The depth of the squad available to Klopp was evident last night as Naby Keita came back into the fold and delivered a superb performance. And his energetic efforts weren’t lost on Jordan Henderson. Reds skipper Hendo told the club’s official website:
“He started the season brilliantly and obviously then getting an injury set him back a little bit. But you can see how good a player he is.
“That shot with the left foot and the save from Hart was fantastic. In his overall play he is comfortable on the ball and he helps build up play from the back. He drives the ball forward, which is big for us. I thought he was outstanding, along with everybody else really.”
But despite the very close proximity to the leaders, Henderson has been quick to play down talk of a two-horse race for the title.
He added:
“We are not really interested in City, to be honest, because there is a long way to go. We know how good they are, we expect them to win. We just expect ourselves to win games and perform to the level that we have been — and if we do that we can keep winning. But we just focus on game by game and it doesn’t really matter about anybody else.
“The games are coming thick and fast, a lot of games in a short space of time but we showed we can use the squad and still perform to the level we know we are capable of and win games – and that’s a big plus for us.”
