‘Gifted six points’ – Sky pundit makes laughable ‘mid-table’ claim in peculiar dig at Liverpool | OneFootball

Liverpool are defending Premier League champions and sit top of the early-season table as the only team in the division with a 100% record, but some pundits remain distinctly unimpressed with Arne Slot’s side.

The Reds have admittedly left it late to win each of their first four top-flight matches, netting decisive goals in the 83rd minute or later in all of those games, including two stoppage-time winners away to Newcastle and Burnley.

Expectations have been raised for the Merseysiders this term after winning the title so emphatically in 2024/25 and spending approximately £450m in the summer transfer window (although Slot rightly pointed out on Tuesday that more than £200m was recouped from player sales).

Merson takes aim at ‘mid-table’ Liverpool

While Liverpool have found a way to keep winning so far this season, Paul Merson has claimed that they’re highly fortunate to find themselves top of the table and can feel grateful to have been ‘gifted’ 50% of their current points tally.

Speaking on Sky Sports, the pundit laughably declared: “They should be mid-table. They’ve been gifted six points.”

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Liverpool haven’t been exhilarating – but nor have they been stupidly lucky

Just in case you’re wondering, this is the same Paul Merson who – immediately after Liverpool beat Arsenal at the end of August – emphatically agreed with claims that the Reds would go on to retain their Premier League title, having initially backed the Gunners to finish top.

We’ll readily acknowledge that Slot’s side can’t keep relying on late goals to turn draws into victories and have yet to put in a thoroughly convincing 90-minute performance in the early weeks of the campaign.

Despite dominating possession (81%) and the shot count (27-3) against Burnley, we probably wouldn’t have scored only for Hannibal Mejbri giving away a cheap penalty for handball, so that one could fall under the ‘gifted’ category.

(Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)

However, for Merson to suggest that we’ve been handed six of our 12 points on a plate is rather harsh. The late goals which saw off Bournemouth and Newcastle were brilliantly crafted rather than resulting from glaring errors, and the character that Liverpool showed to emerge from the febrile cauldron of St James’ Park with victory deserves more praise than it’s gotten.

The Arsenal game was 50-50 on balance but nobody could dispute that Dominik Szoboszlai’s match-winning free kick was a stunning moment worthy of settling a potential title six-pointer. As for the trip to Turf Moor, the Reds laboured but were deserving winners across the overall 90+ minutes.

The champions have another few gears to reach and will need to do so if they’re to retain their crown next May, but to dismiss half of their points tally as the result of dumb luck is just wrong.

Not that Slot and his players will worry unduly about external criticism so long as they keep the wins coming every week!

You can watch the Liverpool squad prepare for Champions League action via our YouTube channel: