Virgil van Dijk clashes with former Liverpool icon on live TV | OneFootball

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk firmly disagreed with ex-Reds forward Michael Owen about the perceived disappointment surrounding the Premier League leaders this season.

This heated exchange took place after Liverpool eked out a 1-0 win at home to Everton on Wednesday night, taking them 12 points clear of Arsenal at the division's summit.

However, Arne Slot's side had been gunning for a quadruple heading into January. A shock FA Cup exit to Plymouth Argyle was quickly followed by Champions League elimination at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain and a convincing Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle United.

Owen claimed that there was a sense of disappointment lingering over the fanbase in the wake of these successive setbacks in the other competitions.

"Liverpool were poised to have a phenomenal season, if they win the Premier League it'll still be fantastic but with a little bit of a bitter taste because it was building into something special," the former Liverpool striker told Premier League Productions on Wednesday night.

Michael Owen won six trophies at Liverpool but the Premier League wasn't one of them / Marc Atkins/GettyImages

"The dust will settle, everyone will realise if it's the Premier League they win at the end of the season and only the Premier League that'll be an incredible season and they would've snapped your hand off for that at the start of the season.

"But it doesn't stop the feeling of the last few weeks and to get that winning feeling back will be really important to everybody connected with the club."

Van Dijk was unimpressed with this stance when he appeared on the broadcast. "So you're suggesting the season is not going to be special any more?" he snapped.

"It will be, absolutely, it will be special," Owen quickly replied, "but I thought it could've been building into something very special."

Once again, the Liverpool skipper expressed his disdain for any whisper of disappointment. "Well, I think we have to change that narrative a little bit.

"We're fighting for the biggest prize of the season, we worked so hard for it, 20 teams are working so hard to be on top of the Premier League. We have eight games to go, we know what's at stake, we have to go for it, we have to fight, we have to enjoy the whole ride and then let's see. Like I said, it's still looking very special in my eyes.

"I think what you said, at the start of the season, I think no one expected us to even try to fight on all four fronts, obviously we're at the stage now where we're still fighting for the biggest, and that's the reality. It's still a possibility that this season will be very, very special."