It has been a charmed start to the season for Arne Slot taking over Liverpool, but they’ve opened the door in the title race by drawing Fulham 2-2 but making it draws in consecutive Premier League matches. When looking around the league, it can be tough to pinpoint Liverpool’s biggest threat in the title race, but that’s because it comes from within Anfield.
Fulham scored the opener only 11 minutes into the match thanks to Andreas Pereira volley from a sneaky run from midfield to the back post. Liverpool went behind and the Anfield faithful went silent. It went from bad to worse following a rash challenge from Andrew Robertson 17 minutes in, and it felt like for the first time in 19 games that they’d actually lose.
But despite being shorthanded Liverpool started off the second half quickly with a goal from Cody Gakpo, but that was only the beginning of the story. Rodrigo Muniz bundled in a late goal via Antonee Robinson’s second assist of the match in the 78th minute to once again give Fulham the lead, and it seemed like finally it would be too much for Liverpool.
But it wasn’t. Diogo Jota, making his return from an injury, showed what Liverpool have been missing in the attack, scoring a late equalizer., taking a shot from the top of the box that nestled in the left corner as Fulham’s Leno got caught guessing the wrong way. Assisted by Darwin Nunez, it was a moment where Slot pushed the right buttons at the right time to keep Liverpool in the match despite being down a man. The Reds know the importance of points and continued to push forward for goals despite the threat of a Fulham goal.
Looking around the league, Arsenal failed to take their chance to catch the Reds, drawing Everton at home, but Chelsea are lurking with a chance to draw within two points of the league lead if they can defeat Brentford on Sunday. Liverpool are still in complete control of their fate, but to lead wire-to-wire, they’ll need to steady this rough patch quickly.
To maintain their title charge, Liverpool will need to be almost perfect which is a tall ask for any team. Perfection isn’t easy to come by in the Premier League, especially with injuries impacting large portions of the defense. Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley are out with injuries and Robertson will also miss Liverpool’s next match giving Slot another lineup decision to think about.
Jota and Alisson’s return helps, but during the festive period, matches slow down for no one. Failing to win in two consecutive matches is hardly a crisis, especially when Liverpool are perfect in Champions League play and are close to securing an automatic berth to the last 16.
Taking over for Jurgen Klopp is a dream scenario, but patches like this one are where Slot’s leadership will be tested. It’s easy to get your ideas across when a team is winning but dropped points can create doubt and next thing you know, it turns into Manchester City only winning once in their last 10 matches.
As Liverpool’s defense gets healthy, they won’t turn into a situation like that, but it could open the door for Chelsea to rise up the table. Enzo Maresca uses almost entirely different squads for European play and Premier League play with Chelsea, which helps keep his first XI fresh for games that matter.
With a relentless attack, there isn’t a defense in the league that can slow Chelsea while Arsenal and Manchester City will ensure that they have a say in things but they haven’t shown the second gear needed to make up deficits in the race. While an unlikely contender could break through, those four teams seem to be the title contenders tier for the Premier League and everyone else is chasing fourth or fifth at best.
The Reds still hold the lead following this gritty point but there’s still a race ahead.