SALAH ON THE CHARGE Nottingham Forest's Welsh defender Neco Williams (L), midfielder Elliot Anderson (2R) and Brazilian defender Murillo (R) vie with Liverpool's Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah during the English Premier League football match at The City Ground in Nottingham, central England, on January 14, 2025. Picture: Paul Ellis/AFP
Image: Paul Ellis/AFP
Unlikely contenders Nottingham Forest struck a decisive blow in their title aspirations as they drew 1-1 with Premier League leaders Liverpool on Wednesday.
Liverpool were by far the dominant team on the night with 23 shots at goal to the six of the hosts at City ground. The Reds also boasted 71% of the ball.
Somehow, though, Liverpool found themselves a goal down after eight minutes as Chris Wood put Forest ahead, and the equaliser took nearly an hour from Diogo Joto.
The result meant Liverpool drew their fifth match of their league campaign, and though they’ve lost just once this term - the stalemates do seem to be mounting up.
Liverpool currently top the table on 47 points from 20 matches, six ahead of Forest who have played 21 games. Arsenal are third on 40 points from 20 fixtures, while Chelsea are fourth on 37 point from 21 clashes.
It’s widely accepted that Forest are not genuine title contenders, and a top four finish would indeed be an incredible result for the team that finished 17th in the league last season - one position above the drop zone.
Chelsea too are not viewed as contenders for the league title this season, but anything less than a top four finish for one of the marquee clubs in English football will not be warmly received by their supporters and management.
It then leaves Arsenal as the main rivals for Liverpool with just under half the season remaining. Of course, Arsenal finished ahead of Liverpool last season as Manchester City were crowned champions and The Gunners finished runners-up by two points.
Interestingly, Liverpool led the table for a good portion of the season in their 2023/2024 campaign in Jurgen Klopp’s final term in charge.
Now, under new coach Arne Slott, Liverpool do appear to be the class outfit in the league and in the Champions League as they top the table in that competition just for good measure.
In their favour though, Liverpool have won the most games (14), scored the most goals (48) at almost 2.5 per game and have a goal difference vastly superior (28) to that of their closest rivals.
It seems then statistically that Liverpool are heavy favourites to win the league, except the league isn’t won on paper and dealing with the pressure moments better than they have in recent seasons will be the decider.
Only time will tell if this Liverpool team is a champion side.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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