Jubilant Scenes As Liverpool Win Their 20th League Title With Win Over Spurs | OneFootball

It has felt inevitable for some time, but Liverpool’s 5-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur has confirmed the club’s record-equalling 20th top-flight English title. Some were afraid to admit that it was going to happen, having been burnt too many times by going up against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side and missing out on a league title twice, in spite of getting enough points to have won the league in virtually any other season.

This hasn’t been us against the team with 130 charges of financial impropriety, however, and it has actually been relatively plain-sailing for the Reds.

How the Title Was Won

Although it is tempting to think of key moments across a campaign when a team wins the Premier League title, the truth of the matter is that it’s never as simple as that. Yes, the win over Brentford when a 0-0 draw looked on the cards felt like a crucial moment and defeating the aforementioned City home and away certainly helped, but the reality is that the Reds have just been consistently excellent throughout the season.

Whilst Mikel Arteta has seemed keener to avoid defeat than aim for victory with his Arsenal side, Arne Slot has gone for the jugular of any team he’s been up against.

There have been some bad faith types desperate to play down the idea that this has been a strong Premier League, with the likes of Gary Neville spouting his usual nonsense in order to play down Liverpool’s accomplishments.

The evidence simply isn’t there to support such a theory, however, and should be given no credence. Instead, the Reds have gone about their business calmly and decisively, controlling matches and being clinical when needed. They put some distance between themselves and the Gunners and simply never let up, ensuring number 20 was an inevitability.

Well Placed to Win Another

Perhaps the most exciting thing for Liverpool supporters is the fact that this doesn’t look like it’s even close to being the end of anything. Sure, Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah are in the twilights of their careers, but the fact that they’ve renewed their contracts just means that someone else can come in and learn how to replace them without any real pressure to perform immediately.

Meanwhile, many of the other players who have driven the Reds to this title are still young enough to be playing for us for several years to come, with a manager who will have learned a lot from this season.

Arne Slot has become just the 12th manager of the Premier League era to win the title, the first Dutch coach to win it and the first person in Liverpool’s history to win it in his debut season with the Reds. Not only that, but he also did it with a squad that was almost entirely someone else’s, given the fact that his only signing was that of Federico Chiesa, who seemed more like an opportunistic move from Richard Hughes than a player the Dutchman desperately wanted.

Can anyone really rule out the idea of his squad improving once he’s been allowed to put his stamp on it this summer?

The Title We’ve All Been Desperate For

The title win yesterday was Liverpool second in five years, but the last one didn’t feel right. It will obviously be as real in the record books as the 18 that came before it, but the fact that we didn’t get to celebrate it meant that it wasn’t what we all wanted it to be.

That is why this title feels like an exorcism of some demons. Anfield was full to capacity yesterday afternoon, as were the pubs around the stadium, with no restrictions in place this time around. The players and management team deserved every second of their adulation, but the fans very much deserved their time in the sun too.

It hasn’t been easy, watching the sports-washing operation of the United Arab Emirates win so many titles recently. That the title that we won that disrupted their dominance was played out behind-closed-doors for the most important bit of it stung that little bit more. This, therefore, is the first time we’ve won the title since 1990 in front of people, which has been brilliant for everyone’s sanity and mental health.

Spurs gave us a scare initially, with former Liverpool player Dominic Solanke getting the goal, but there was an inevitability about the win that they could do nothing about.

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It’s brilliant for the players, amazing for the supporters and good news for English football that Liverpool are back on their perch. Hand it over, Manchester.