‘That’s why…’ – Steve Nicol gives Liverpool title verdict after what he’s seen from Slot’s side | OneFootball

Steve Nicol has revised his pre-season prediction regarding where he thinks Liverpool will finish in the Premier League this term.

At the start of the campaign, the pundit had his former club down to finish third behind Arsenal and Manchester City. However, with the Reds now five points clear of the champions and nine ahead of the Gunners with just under 33% of gameweeks played, there’s been some revisionism to those August forecasts.

During his customary appearance on ESPN FC, the Scot was asked if he now believes Arne Slot’s side can maintain their current position by the season’s end.

Nicol revises Liverpool prediction

Nicol replied: “I would say very confident. Part of the reason has to do with both Man City and Arsenal, because they’ve got a nine-point lead over Arsenal and a five-point lead over City.

“The title is between those three – I’m not including Chelsea in the title race – and those two [City and Arsenal], we’re not quite sure what we’re getting from them right now; whereas Liverpool, we kind of know exactly what we’re getting.

“Everything’s settled in their house, whereas the other two are stumbling along. The longer they stumble, and the more points Liverpool get ahead, the harder it’s going to be. Arsenal are a great example; they’re nine points behind. If Arsenal lose their next game and Liverpool win, they’re going to be 12 points behind.

“Do you really think you can give this Liverpool four games of a start and you still have to go the whole campaign winning every game? That’s why I’ve gone for them.”

(Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)

So far so good, but still a lot of hurdles to be cleared

We suspect that, at the start of the season, not even the most optimistic of Liverpool fans would’ve predicted Slot to win the Premier League in his first year at the helm, but that possibility has thus far grown with each passing week since August.

If the Reds can maintain the current gap to Man City ahead of the two teams meeting at Anfield on 1 December and then beat Pep Guardiola’s side, an eight-point lead would feel significant at that juncture, particularly with the belief that a direct hit on the champions would give to the Merseysiders.

Of course, we’ve seen the Etihad Stadium outfit retrieve such deficits on multiple occasions – they were 10 points adrift of LFC midway through 2018/19 before victory in their head-to-head clash in Manchester that January eventually decided an epic title race in their favour.

Fortunately for Liverpool, they have a head coach in Slot who – publicly at least – carries the nature of a man who doesn’t get overly excited when things are going as well as they have been so far, nor excessively worried if his team hit a speed bump along the way.

Man City’s upcoming visit to Anfield looms large, but there’s no point focusing on that fixture until negotiating Southampton at St Mary’s in our next match in 10 days’ time.