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Liverpool’s 5-2 win over West Ham United did more than lift the mood at Anfield, because it nudged us right into the heart of the race for Champions League football.
With Arsenal top on 61 points and Manchester City close behind on 59, the more immediate fight for us is the scrap below them, where fifth place is currently ours on 48 points from 28 games and level on points with fourth-placed Manchester United, while Chelsea sit sixth on 45 with a game in hand.
That context matters because the Premier League is again expected to deliver five Champions League places, which means Liverpool do not need perfection, but we do need consistency while juggling the FA Cup and Champions League knockout football.
Owen Hargreaves believes we have enough to get it done.
Speaking on Premier League Productions and quoted by Metro.co.uk, the former England midfielder backed Liverpool to finish in the top five.
Hargreaves pointed to why he feels the pressure is heavier on Chelsea than it is on us.
“I think the difficulty for Chelsea is they have a really young team, they don’t have the experience that I think Liverpool have.
“They’ve [Chelsea] probably got the hardest run of fixtures, if you look at Chelsea’s fixtures, if they’re going to get into it they’ve really got it earn it, Chelsea.”
Liverpool are putting points on the board at the right time
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
The West Ham win made it three consecutive Premier League victories for Liverpool, following 1-0 wins over Sunderland and Nottingham Forest, and the 5-2 at Anfield that finally brought a first league five-goal haul of the season.
That run has been built on results rather than perfection, which is why the second-half wobble against West Ham stood out, even in a match we ultimately won comfortably.
Here is our recent Premier League sequence:
Game management issues show what Liverpool still must fix
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Even after scoring five, the game management questions did not go away, with Don Hutchison and Steve Nicol bemoaning a lack of a Ronnie Moran type figure in our coaching staff to manage standards.
There were periods in the second half when we looked too eager to force the next goal instead of controlling territory and tempo, and Hutchison’s point about keeping standards high was a reminder that knockout football can punish loose spells.
That is why Hargreaves’ “experience” line lands, because the run-in is not just about talent, it is about staying calm when matches get messy and utilising world class players like Hugo Ekitike.
If Liverpool keep stacking wins while tightening those second-half lapses, then the top-five target looks realistic, and Hargreaves has effectively said we should back ourselves to get Champions League football again.
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