Some people think the race has now become a procession, while others think the silverware might as well be passed over now. However, Liverpool, the league’s dominant team, is taking nothing for granted in the Premier League, and with good reason.
The Reds’ memories of past unsuccessful title runs keep them laser-focused on what needs to be done to guarantee that a record-tying 20th championship arrives at Anfield.
The way Cody Gakpo has performed for Liverpool this season has been outstanding.
While last season’s stumble towards the finish line still hurts everyone involved, the team’s more seasoned players remember the pain of losing to Manchester City in 2019 and 2022 despite leading Pep Guardiola’s team to the season’s final weekend.
Additionally, Liverpool had to endure a three-month break in the campaign due to a worldwide pandemic and calls from rival figures for the season to be deemed void before they could finally seal the deal, even though they were cruising home with a 25-point lead at one point in 2020.
The Reds players, however, are still most affected by the disappointing conclusion from a year ago. Cody Gakpo has explained what can make the difference, while captain Virgil van Dijk has frequently hammered the drum for learning from the experience.
“There are a lot of things we have to learn,” Speaking only to the ECHO, he says. “One good thing is that we that we stick together as a team and also that we had already one year all together, so we have more experience together, and also as a player individually I have that experience, those things will help.
“You know, if you look at other teams that win titles, most of the time the longer they are together, the more they know how to deal with certain periods in the season, because every season has very high periods, a little bit a dip, that’s normal.
“But I think the more experienced you are, the longer you are together, those situations are more easy to overcome. Hopefully we learn from that, and we feel already that we are learning from last season, but hopefully we can show it as well and keep winning.”
Liverpool’s ongoing injury crisis, which at one point left them without 13 senior players, didn’t help them last season. With their respective declines in form and point totals indicating they haven’t been able to handle it as well as the Reds, Arsenal and City have both learned this season how difficult it is to deal with such issues.
Additionally, considering the previous term, Gakpo adds:
“The injuries are a thing. Obviously with an injury, you cannot do anything about it sometimes in some ways. But it didn’t help last season that we missed I think six or seven players who could start every game and we missed them for one or two months. That didn’t help at all.
“Hopefully we can keep everybody fit, or mostly everybody because some are already injured, but hopefully they can come back as soon as possible, and we can keep everybody as fit as possible towards the end of the season and make it a good one.”
Gakpo, who primarily plays on the left flank, has been playing well this season, tallying 16 goals in 38 games. The 25-year-old will be vying for a recall to the starting lineup for the Champions League round of 16 first leg against Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday after making two cameo appearances from the bench after missing two games due to injury.
But the focus is on winning the Premier League title. However, Gakpo acknowledges that Liverpool’s championship quest has taken on a new dimension as a result of City’s exclusion from the race for the title.
“We are aware that we shouldn’t view them in a way that implies we must win every game or that if they win, we must win,” he says. However, we can’t pretend that we haven’t noticed that City is having a little more trouble than in previous years.
“It is how it is and we have to just stay focused on ourselves and try to keep winning every game because everybody knows how hard it can be, and every game is a difficult one.
“So, yeah, we have to win as many games as possible and then hopefully we win the title at the end.”
The minimum number of wins Liverpool needs to win the title is seven more from the remaining ten games. Furthermore, Gakpo and his Liverpool teammates don’t want to slow down just yet.