Liverpool Premier League title will banish negativity: Fowler

Liverpool’s assault on multiple silverware has been whittled down to what looks like the formality of sealing the Premier League title in what could become an anti-climactic end to manager Arne Slot’s first season in charge.

Former striker Robbie Fowler does not buy in to that school of thought, however, and says a record-equalling 20th English title will quench the fans’ thirst for silverware.

“If you sat any Liverpool fan down at the start of the season and said, ‘look, you can do well in the Champions League, you’ll be top of the group, you can get to a final, but you’re going to win the Premier League’, what would you take?

“I think the obvious answer is you want to win the Premier League because a lot of the fans missed out the last time because of COVID and no fans were in the stadium.

“So I think this one will be extra special. I think the specialness of this will probably override anything that has been negative throughout the season.”

Liverpool produced arguably their worst display of the season in losing 2-1 to Newcastle United in the League Cup final, days after bowing out of the Champions League to Paris St Germain on penalties. In February, they were stunned in the FA Cup by second-tier strugglers Plymouth Argyle.

Slot’s team are 12 points clear in the Premier League title race, though, and after an extended break resume their quest at home to Merseyside rivals Everton on April 2.

Fowler, who will coach a North of England legends team against the South of England, said a clash with Everton is exactly what Liverpool need to blow away the cobwebs.

“I think the big picture is that they’re still in a healthy and a very good place,” Fowler, who scored 128 Premier League goals for Liverpool, told reporters.

“They’ve got a massive game coming up against Everton who are flying and haven’t lost in nine. Everyone remembers last year with people saying Liverpool lost the league at Goodison Park.

“I don’t think they did, but you know the fans sort of hang on to that. A year later and they have the chance of playing Everton and really cementing the title.”

Contract sagas around Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander Arnold also threaten to cloud Liverpool’s run-in and while Alexander-Arnold is strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid, Fowler says the club should make sure they hang on to at least two of them.

Salah has 27 goals and 17 assists in the Premier League this season.

“I would go and give him what he wants for the simple fact is that he’s proven,” Fowler said. “Anyone who comes into Liverpool now you’re going to spend an awful lot of money on getting him here plus wages. Why not give all that money for someone who’s tried and tested.”

Arnold’s choice between dream Real move or lasting Reds legacy: Alexander-Arnold’s proposed move from Liverpool to Real Madrid has split opinion on whether a local hero can leave Merseyside without a lasting stain on his legacy.

Alexander-Arnold joined the Reds 20 years ago as a six-year-old and has gone on to win a clean sweep of Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup titles.

His status is reflected in a mural that stands just metres from the club’s Anfield stadium, emblazoned with the quote: “I’m just a normal lad from Liverpool whose dream has just come true.”

However, how he will be remembered for years to come in his home city will for many be dictated by the decision he takes in the coming weeks over his future.

Alexander-Arnold’s contract expires at the end of the season, meaning Madrid do not have to pay a transfer fee for a player who has smashed Premier League records when it comes to a creative output from a right-back.

Liverpool like to taunt their Premier League rivals with their six European Cups, making them by a distance the most successful English club in the competition’s history.

Madrid though are in a league of their own with 15 European Cup or Champions League triumphs, including six in the past 11 years.

Agencies