Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version or go back to LFC Live.net

Virgil van Dijk and Arne Slot made a demand to Liverpool fans before the vital victory over Newcastle United(Image: Getty)

If recent history has proven anything for Liverpool fans, it is that some Premier League titles are to be endured, while others can be enjoyed.

Perversely, while winning it with 21 points left to play was the 'earliest' the championship had been secured, it was also the latest on the calendar, with the Reds finally lifting the trophy itself at Anfield on July 23, 2020, owing to the three-month pause in play for the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

January's 2-0 win over Manchester United was the moment the Kop began to sing about winning the league but, five years on, others talk about different junctures in the campaign when they knew the Reds would triumph.



READ MORE:Kerkez, Nunez, Isak - Who Liverpool could sign and sell in transfer window after first deal doneREAD MORE:Anthony Gordon banned for Carabao Cup final vs Liverpool and Alexander Isak injured on nightmare day for Newcastle

The 4-0 victory over Leicester City on Boxing Day, for example, has been held up as one particular night, while others have pointed to results even earlier in the campaign, like the 3-1 win over Manchester City in November, or the late turnaround at Aston Villa the previous week.

"Leicester was a statement to the rest of the league to say we were good enough to win it," Trent Alexander-Arnold told the ECHO in the summer of 2020.

We had a lot of distractions with the Club World Cup in Qatar and stuff like that and going into that game, a lot of people would have backed Leicester to have won that.

"But we put in the best performance of the season and dominated the game so well.

On both occasions, the Reds took Manchester City to the dying embers of the campaign before they were able to call themselves champions.

In 2019, City's 98 points won out to Liverpool's 97, while a haul of 92 three years later by Jurgen Klopp's side was once more bettered by a single point by Pep Guardiola and his City players.

Both times, Liverpool were forced to play the role of challengers, attempting to usurp the more fancied City side under Guardiola, and their ability to achieve those sort of points tallies is proof that Klopp's vintage was one of the greatest sides this country has produced, even if they 'only' had the one title to show for it during those years.

For supporters, it was a case of gritting teeth, biting fingernails and praying for a City slip that felt seismic whenever it happened due to it being such a rare occurrence.

Supporting the opposition of City each week was often a thankless task for Reds fans desperate to see any signs of fallibility.

Those inside Anfield on May 22, 2022 still speak of how they felt when a rumour had briefly been allowed to drift around the ground that Aston Villa had equalised at City on the final day only to quickly learn it was a cruel hoax.

This time out, a 13-point advantage over an Arsenal side struggling with injuries and attacking options means there will surely be nowhere near that level of angst and anxiety going forward and the reaction to the full-time whistle of the Gunners' goalless draw with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night at Anfield was proof that fans, in the main, now believe the league will be theirs.

Article continues below

Virgil van Dijk and Arne Slot had both asked fans to bring their A game for the match with Newcastle United and it was noticeable how different the atmosphere was to the previous one, when a nervous and tense fanbase found it difficult to help the players during a taxing second half against Wolves.

Now, safe in the knowledge of a lead that should be unassailable if Liverpool keep their professionalism, supporters' fears have drifted away, making them able to provide the sort of din that the team are able to respond to for the remainder of the season.

With six of the last 10 games being at home, it's a prospect that works nicely in Slot's favour.
For more news relating to Arsenal, visit our sister site AFC Latest Live.