They think it’s all over…

For the second time this season we cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over City and in both games it was a score line that flattered the reigning champions. I always felt like we had another gear or two yesterday, had it been required and as much as City huffed and puffed and had a lot of possession, I never really felt like they were going to score as we were comfortable throughout.

Slot opted to leave both Jota and Nunez out of the starting lineup which was no surprise in Darwin’s case, give Slot’s comments after the Villa game but something of an eyebrow raiser regarding Jota, although it may just be that we’re being extra cautious with his fitness. It’s also possible Slot just wanted to pack our midfield to stifle City and to be fair, if that was the plan then it worked a treat.

To the goals then… There’s not been much to criticise the team for this season but one thing we have had a moan about has been our predictability and lack of goals from corners, so it was great to see a corner straight off the training ground result in the opening goal. Mac Allister drilled the ball along the floor to Szoboszlai at the near post, who played a first time cut back to Salah and the Egyptian buried it, albeit with the help of a deflection. His form has been simply sensational this season, as he’s bagging not just a goal but also an assist in pretty much every game. He’s currently on 40 goals and assists for the season now, which in February is quite astonishing and unless his form drops off a cliff between now and the end of the season, I think he has to be nailed on for the Ballon D’or this season. I can’t think of anyone else coming close to his level this season and it was his strength and composure that created the second, latching onto a lovely pass from Trent before getting past Ake and then having the composure to pick out Szoboszlai who finished expertly, wrong footing Ederson in the City goal.

It’s difficult to look past Salah for McMOTM but I’m going to give it to Szoboszlai. He also chipped in with a goal and assist but I thought his all round game yesterday was superb. His work rate is phenomenal and he’s added the aggression to his game that many of us felt was missing last season. His form has been excellent of late and he’s adding the goals now that we all knew he was capable of.

Elsewhere on the pitch, Diaz was lively throughout and Robbo more like his old self ss the two of them dominated that side of the pitch for the most part. I also thought Konate was excellent yesterday and I loved the moment he made a superb block and celebrated it like a goal in front of our travelling fans. Doku was giving Trent a torrid time in terms of dribbling past him time and again but thankfully his lack of end product meant we weren’t made to pay for it.

In truth, the two games against City this season have been as comfortable a victory as we’ve had in any games, which highlights just how far Guardiola’s men have fallen this season. There’s similarities between where they’re at this season and Klopp’s penultimate season, where the team seems to have got old overnight and they’ve got a fairly major rebuild on their hands as they fight for a place in the top four.

Having dropped points in recent weeks, many fans were casting an uneasy glance over our shoulder but I’ve been confident the title is ours this season for a while and that confidence hasn’t just been driven by our performances, more the lack of consistency our rivals have shown and that point was ‘hammered’ home by Arsenal losing 1-0 to West Ham on Saturday. The perennial bottle jobs from north London once again lived up to that reputation. They had the chance to close the gap that they’d been waiting for, after we dropped points to Everton and Villa. Had they won on Saturday, it would’ve heaped the pressure on us ahead of yesterday’s game and the nerves may have been telling. They blew it however, with failing to convert their chances and poor discipline resulting in going down to 10 men being a feature of their entire season and that result has, in all likelihood, ended any lingering hopes they may have had of catching us in the title race. It’s also a damaging defeat for them psychologically and I expect they’ll drop more points in the coming weeks, as they will probably focus primarily on the Champions League now.

The perfect weekend for us then and even the most pessimistic of Liverpool fans must now feel that we have one hand on the trophy. As for the rest of the footballing world, they think it’s all over… Is it? Not quite but it will take a drop off of epic proportions to prevent us being crowned champions for the 20th time this season. A truly remarkable first season in charge for Slot. Walk on!!