It has been a lovely start to the season for Arne Slot as he takes charge of Liverpool, but they have opened the door in the title race by drawing Fulham 2-2, but drawing in consecutive Premier League games. When looking around the league, it can be difficult to identify Liverpool’s biggest threat in the title race, but that’s because it comes from Anfield.
Fulham scored the first goal just 11 minutes into the match thanks to a volley from Andreas Pereira after a sneaky run from the center of the field to the far post. Liverpool fell behind and the Anfield faithful remained silent. They went from bad to worse after a rash challenge from Andrew Robertson on 17 minutes, and it looked like for the first time in 19 games they would actually lose.
But despite being shorthanded, Liverpool started the second half quickly with a goal from Cody Gakpo, but that was just the beginning of the story. Rodrigo Muñiz scored a late goal off Antonee Robinson’s second assist of the game in the 78th minute to once again give Fulham the lead, and it looked like it would finally be too much for Liverpool.
But it wasn’t like that. Diogo Jota, returning from injury, showed what Liverpool were missing in attack, scoring a late equaliser, firing from the top of the box into the left corner when Fulham’s Leno was 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 game despite being a man down. The Reds know the importance of points and continued to search 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 the chance to move to within two points of the league lead if they can beat Brentford on Sunday . Liverpool are still in complete control of their destiny, but to lead from top to bottom, they will need to stabilize this poor run quickly.
To maintain their title, Liverpool will need to be almost perfect, which is a difficult task for any team. Perfection is not easy to achieve in the Premier League, especially when injuries affect much of the defence. Ibrahima Konate and Conor Bradley are injured and Robertson will also miss Liverpool’s next game, giving Slot another lineup decision to think about.
The return of Jota and Alisson helps, but during the festive period the games don’t slow down for anyone. Not winning in two consecutive games is not a crisis, especially when Liverpool are perfect in the Champions League and are close to securing an automatic place in the round of 16.
Replacing Jurgen Klopp is a dream scenario, but patches like this are where Slot’s leadership will be tested. It’s easy to express your thoughts when a team is winning, but dropped points can raise doubts and the next thing you know, Manchester City have only won once in their last 10 games.
As Liverpool’s defense recovers, it won’t become a situation like that, but it could open the door for Chelsea to move up the table. Enzo Maresca uses almost completely different squads for European and Premier League play with Chelsea, helping to keep his first XI fresh for big games.
With a relentless attack, there is no defense in the league that can stop Chelsea, while Arsenal and Manchester City will ensure they have a say in things, but have not shown the second gear needed to make up for deficits in the run. While an unlikely contender could break through, those four teams appear to be the level of Premier League title contenders with everyone else chasing fourth or fifth place at best.
The Reds still hold the lead after this difficult point, but there is still one race to go.
