Why Are People So Scared to Say Liverpool Will Win the League? | OneFootball

In spite of the fact that we’ve only just entered March, Liverpool have the Premier League title sewn up. The Reds sit 13 points clear of Arsenal, albeit the Gunners have a game-in-hand, and the next match is a home one against Southampton.

If you were to rank all of the matches that Liverpool have to play in terms of difficultly from 1 to 38, a home game against the Saints would come 38th on the list. In other words, that is as much of a banker of three points as it’s possible to get in the Premier League, yet still some people worry.

We sit at the top of the table with 67 points, having just ten games left to play. Arsenal have 11 games left but are only on 54 points, meaning that the best that they could hope to get if they were to win all of their remaining games is 87.

If you were to generously say that the Gunners will also claim back the 12 goal advantage we have in terms of goal difference, it means we need just 21 points from our remaining games to win the title, which is a worse points-per-game ratio than we’ve had all season, so why are some people so afraid to admit it’s done?

Several Times Bitten, Numerous Times Shy

If you take to social media and discuss Liverpool’s likely title win with those who are refusing to acknowledge it, they will declare that we have been bitten too many times to take anything for granted. In fairness, there is some truth to that. Even last season the Reds were clear at the top with not many games to play, only to end up coming third as it seemed like the legs fell off the squad.

Anyone who knows anything about football will know all about why that happened, however, with Jürgen Klopp’s final season being emotionally charged.

Even so, that sense of coming close but not getting over the line in the likes of 2013-2014 and 2018-2019 has left many people wounded and afraid to admit that this title is done until it is mathematically secure. The truth is, though, that the only other time we’ve been in such a dominant position in the Premier League was 2019-2020, when we won it.

Those of us who waited until it was mathematically secure that season were left disappointed when the global health crisis closed the country and by the time we won it we couldn’t celebrate properly. Don’t make that mistake this time around.

Superstition

One of the other big reasons people will point to as a reason not to count their chickens is the idea of superstition. There is a fear from these people that if they say that Liverpool are going to win the title then they will ‘jinx it’ and the title will end up going to Arsenal. The truth is, you do not have that sort of power over the universe.

We all like to imagine that we have some sort of control over events that are completely outside of our jurisdiction, which is why people say ‘touch wood’ or wear lucky underwear, yet we have absolutely no control whatsoever.

That sense of being able to have power over something offers a sense of comfort. Being believe in god or the idea of heaven because they won’t want to be entirely without any control over what happens next, but there is no evidence for the existence of either. The same is true when it comes to being superstitious over what happens in football matches.

Sure, those actually in attendance can make a difference by contributing to the atmosphere, but if you think wearing particular socks whilst you’re hundreds of miles away from the action will have an impact then you’re sorely mistaken.

Football wouldn’t be the sport that we all love as much as we do if mad stuff couldn’t happen, of course. We have all seen teams look like they’re going to win the title only to be pipped at the post. Yet the Arsenal team that is chasing the Reds isn’t good enough to actually be able to stop them from winning, especially given their lack of attacking options. The title is over and Liverpool have won it, provided the players don’t lose concentration. If we somehow don’t win it, it won’t be because someone random on the internet has said that we will.