After watching beloved Liverpool dissect bitter rivals Manchester United with a 7-0 win at Anfield last weekend, you could have forgiven Reds legend Jamie Carragher for being in the league when it comes to the remains in the best mood of the season.
Because how many times have we seen an over-enthusiastic Rio Ferdinand naively declaring ‘Man United are back’ after a positive result, only to be quickly brought down to earth in recent years?
The victory for Jurgen Klopp’s side was spectacular, placing them fifth in the Premier League table. With Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United losing, they saw an opportunity to close the gap to the top four and seized it with both hands.
Now, if they beat AFC Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime, they will overtake Spurs in fourth place. And while Tottenham’s 3pm kick-off at home to Nottingham Forest could give them their place back soon after a few hours, Liverpool still have a game in hand against Antonio Conte’s men.
Just over a month ago, the Reds were in 10th place, 11 points off their Champions League position. It’s amazing what a five match unbeaten run will do, keeping all five games clean and winning over the likes of Everton, Newcastle and now Man United.
But despite this ever-increasing feel-good factor being slowly restored at Anfield, Liverpool legend Carragher isn’t getting too carried away. Indeed, he admitted earlier this week that he is not convinced the Reds will qualify for next season’s Champions League. “I think there’s probably a better feeling at Liverpool, although I think Tottenham have probably done better a lot of times this season,” he said on the Gary Neville podcast. “I still prefer Tottenham because I’ve looked directly at the fixture list and they have much cheaper fixtures than Liverpool.”
You’d expect such an attitude from a pro-Tottenham pundit, but from Reds legend Carragher it’s certainly surprising, even if he doesn’t rule it out entirely.
Surely he is right if you look at the remaining games of both teams. Tottenham have 12 games left in what is arguably their toughest test after Newcastle and Liverpool were sandwiched either side of a home tie with Manchester United in the final week of April. From their remaining games they meet European chasers Brighton & Hove Albion (H) and Brentford (H), midfielders Crystal Palace (H) and Aston Villa (A) and Nottingham Forest (H), Southampton (A), Everton (A), Bournemouth (H) and Leeds United (A). Liverpool’s toughest tests come in early April when they travel to Manchester City and Chelsea before hosting Arsenal within eight days. They also have the home game with Tottenham at the end of April.
From their other matches, they travel to relegation-threatened Bournemouth on Saturday and also travel to fellow contenders Leeds and West Ham United either side of a home game with Forest before hosting Spurs.
And in May they host European chasers Brentford, travel to struggling Leicester City, welcome midfielder Villa and end the campaign at relegation-threatened Southampton with a home game against European hopefuls Fulham also set to be rearranged.
Granted, those four ‘Big Six’ games look a bit more daunting, although the Reds will at least be confident they can beat Spurs at Anfield. But with a match in progress which could also see them jump to the North London side, there’s still not much to choose between their remaining fixtures.
Plus, what might look cheaper now in mid-March could look very different at the end of the season as teams fight for titles, European qualification and survival. In other words, you can’t judge who will win on paper and it’s also always possible that Liverpool and Tottenham will actually miss out on the top four.
However, the Reds will be looking to repeat their exploits from the end of 2020/21, which saw them end the campaign on a 10-game unbeaten streak to finish third against all odds after it looked like they were on the verge of quitting. Europe miss a full week earlier. If they are fit and confident, few would resist Liverpool. Given they are now five unbeaten, have won four and haven’t conceded a Premier League goal since that loss to Wolves over a month ago, only time will tell if they’ve gotten a go. in such a race now and are in their 7th place: 0 will rack up annihilation by United in the coming weeks.
But while Liverpool have seemingly turned the corner and fans are hoping a top-four result is within reach, that’s a different story at Tottenham. As a result, Carragher may not yet favor the Londoners. Because according to the current situation, there is more and more unrest on and off the pitch.