When Liverpool won their only Premier League title in 2019-20, they earned 37 points from 12 wins and a draw at this same stage, leading Leicester City by eight points and Manchester City by nine.
The season became a procession that ended behind closed doors, and it already looks like it will take something very special from Liverpool’s chasing pack to change that narrative this campaign.
Liverpool’s nine-point lead is their biggest margin at the top since the final day of that triumphant campaign, when they won the title by 18 points.
This Liverpool performance had a more direct and frenetic feel, a tendency to relax in games replaced by an all-out blitz that then left City reeling, defensive pair Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias engaging in a lively discussion early on about how they could stop loading.
They never really found the answer, Dias was stolen by Liverpool substitute Darwin Núñez, leaving Luis Díaz running clear before Ortega brought him down. Salah completed the procedures with 12 minutes remaining.
The numbers certainly suggested Liverpool opted for a more direct and pressurized approach, with 14.8% of their passes going long, compared to the season average of 9.1% before this match.
Without a doubt, it is a slight change, a cocktail of the old Klopp and the new Slot.
Liverpool’s successful transition from Klopp to Slot earned them qualification early on. I mean, everything was very good, but who had they played accordingly?
The answer came most emphatically at Anfield in the space of five days, when first Champions League winners Real Madrid and then reigning Premier League champions Manchester City were overtaken; The identical 2-0 results do not reflect Liverpool’s great superiority.
