Liverpool vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold believes performances this season provide encouraging evidence they can again push Manchester City all the way in another epic title battle.
After a summer midfield rebuild following a fifth-place finish it was generally expected the realistic aim was to regain their Champions League status but just one controversial defeat sees Jurgen Klopp’s side head into Saturday’s match at the home of the Premier League leaders in second place.
The tantalising prospect is Liverpool will at the very least sustain a challenge like that of 2018-19 and 2021-22, when City pipped their north-west rivals by just a single point, or even go one better like in 2019-20 when they won their first title in 30 years.
But to do that they will have to continue to produce an unerringly-high level of consistency and Alexander-Arnold is well aware of that.
“Last season wasn’t good enough. We brought new players in, it was about adapting as quick as possible and making sure we laid a good foundation at the start of the season,” he said.
“We are in a really strong position and results and form-wise we are doing enough to stay as close as possible to the top of the table.
“So far we’ve performed in a way that is how you would expect someone who can win the league to perform and if we carry this on we should be in and around it come May.
“If that wasn’t the case I would be here saying ‘I want to get back in the top four,’ because, genuinely, there is nothing wrong with that for this team, a team that has just finished outside the Champions League places.
“There is a rebuild going on, a lot of senior players have left, and it would be very normal to say ‘Get back in the top four and push on from there,’ but it (challenging for the title) is something that we believe we can achieve.
“If it doesn’t happen, we have ourselves to blame. We have built a great foundation, it is just about consistency.
“The hardest thing in football is consistently winning games but we have shown we are more than capable of passing (that test).”
While outside observers may have lowered their expectations of Liverpool after their slump, by their own high standards, last season that has not been the feeling within the squad.
Despite the changes made to the personnel – with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch creating a whole new midfield – Alexander-Arnold said there were plenty of players who had gone head-to-head with City enough times to know what is required.
“Our aim as a team is to win the league and that’s the aim again this season,” he added.
“Our ambition is to be as successful as possible and to maximise the potential we have got as a team and as a club.
“At the start of last season it was the same as at the start of this season: our ambition was to win the league.
“We were nowhere near good enough to get anywhere near that last year and that’s where we needed to put it right this year.
The boss enjoyed our goals scored in #LIVBRE 💪 pic.twitter.com/4jpbDURYWG
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 13, 2023
“I think the players who are experienced in being successful with the club all understand what it takes and what’s needed to even challenge a team like City.
“It was about getting that message across as quick as possible to the new players and young players coming in; that responsibility of we need everyone to perform and if we do get players who play really well over the course of the season it will get us closer to the top of the table.
“Last season there were too many of us guys who never hit the levels we were expected to and demand of each other, ultimately that’s how you end up being in fifth place.”
