Graeme Souness makes bullish Liverpool claim which might surprise even the most optimistic Reds | OneFootball

While many pundits have long since written Liverpool off in terms of the Premier League title race, Graeme Souness continues to keep the faith.

From being five points clear at the summit just a couple of months ago, Arne Slot’s side have now plunged to 11th in the table, with an 11-point chasm developing between them and current leaders Arsenal.

Martin Keown said in the immediate aftermath of the 3-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday that the champions are ‘going backwards‘, and few would disagree with that assertion, but one former Reds captain still thinks the Merseysiders can fight their way back into the title reckoning.

Souness still isn’t ruling Liverpool out of the title race

Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday, Souness pointed to the constant backing of match-going fans at Anfield as a factor which could yet propel Liverpool back into contention to retain the Premier League trophy despite their atrocious form during the autumn.

The 72-year-old said: “Anything can happen in our league. I have worked in big leagues abroad, and I tell you, our league is by far the most demanding league anywhere. Big clubs don’t get a rest.

“It’s still very much on for three or four teams, and I have to include Liverpool, because I know the way the crowd react there. They won’t give up on the team.”

(Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

Title race seems gone but top 4 still well within Liverpool’s reach

While Souness’ optimistic outlook is a welcome antidote to the widespread negativity surrounding his former club at the moment, even the most glass-half-full Liverpool fans would find it hard to genuinely believe that the Reds can still win the Premier League this season.

Even with two-thirds of the campaign still to play, 11 points feels like an insurmountable gap to bridge if we’re to catch Arsenal. Not only would Slot’s team need to be at a level of perfection akin to LFC in 2019/20, they’d also have to hope that the Gunners endure a major collapse.

Neither of those scenarios seems likely at the moment, although one beacon of positivity for Kopites is that Aston Villa in fourth are still only three points ahead of us, so Champions League qualification is more than attainable despite losing six of our last seven top-flight games.

If Liverpool were to snap out of their ongoing slump and recover to finish in the top four with a degree of comfort, it’d still represent a disappointment on pre-season expectations but would be a satisfactory outcome given where we are at the moment.

Souness is right about one thing, though – as bad as things are right now, it’d have to get a lot worse for the Anfield faithful to boo their team off the pitch or call for Slot to be ‘sacked in the morning’, with Gary Neville continuing to give his firm backing to the head coach.

Many other match-going fanbases might have let rip after Saturday’s horror show, but thankfully it hasn’t yet reached that stage in L4.