The Reds weren’t the only contenders to drop points this week
All it took was one connection from Diogo Jota and Konstantinos Tsimikas to turn what looked like a loss for Liverpool at the City Ground into a 1-1 draw against surprising Nottingham Forest. This was another example of manager Arne Slot being able to use his entire squad to push the right buttons at the right time to get his team into high gear, as Liverpool’s 28 second-half goals and plus-17 goal difference in the second half are both tops by significant margins and a strong reason why the Reds are marching toward the title. While dropping points does provide some others with a chance to make up ground, draws but Chelsea and Manchester City mean this result for Liverpool might not matter all too much in the end.
Chris Wood scored only eight minutes into the match and Forest’s defense fought valiantly but the pressure was eventually too much as in the second half only Liverpool seemed likely to win the match. This Forest side are here to stay in the CHampions League places under Nuno Espirito Santo but in technically a three-team title race, Liverpool is head and shoulders ahead of the crowd.
The Reds saw Clesea and Manchester City both blow second-half leads in their matches, further emphasizing how important it is to pick up points from losing positions in the race. If not for Ola Aina clearing Mohamed Salah’s chance off of the line near the end of the match, it could’ve been all three points going to the Reds.
When he was in charge, Jurgen Klopp labeled his team to be mentality monsters and that hasn’t changed despite the new leader on the touchline. Being able to bring in players like Jota and Curtis Jones does help quite a bit in giving Liverpool the best chance possible to secure these late victories but there’s more to that with how Liverpool are able to bear down in the second half of games.
Facing Forest, the Reds took 14 shots, putting seven on target for an xG of 1.48 while only allowing one shot on goal for an xG of 0.09 in the second half of play. If not for a strong performance from Matz Sels making five saves in the Forest net, this could’ve been quite a different result. It shows both Forest’s improvement but also why Liverpool can’t be counted out of any game no matter what happens.
With this result, Arsenal can draw within three points of the Premier League lead with a victory over Tottenham but as their injury crisis gets worse and Liverpool will still have a game in hand following that, it doesn’t feel like enough. The matches are truly adding up for teams around the league but when it matters, the Reds just won’t lose. Their Premier League unbeaten run since losing to Forest back in September is now up to 16 games ensuring that they stay above their perch atop the league. Even with Liverpool’s form slowing down due to a busy festive period, they’re doing just enough to stay atop the Premier League but that’s also just how a team lifts the title at the end of the season.
There aren’t extra points awarded for margin but building one as early as possible allows room for error when it inevitably happens. What separates Liverpool is that Slot’s setup minimizes those errors and still has Liverpool on cruise control to lift the title at the end fo the season.
