If Liverpool‘s narrow derby victory over Everton last week had some supporters reaching for the champagne, Sunday’s shock 3-2 defeat away to Fulham in the Premier League ensured that, for now, it remains firmly on ice.
Though second-placed Arsenal‘s drab 1-1 draw with Everton on Saturday diminished the impact of Liverpool’s second league defeat of the season, the error-strewn display at Craven Cottage served as a sobering reminder that, while the runaway leaders have one hand on the trophy, there is still work to do.
Arne Slot’s side are 11 points clear at the summit and, with just seven games left to play, it would take an unprecedented collapse for them to surrender the title from here. But while it’s testament to the strength of Liverpool’s overall body of work that they boast such a commanding lead, their aura of infallibility has undeniably been dented in recent weeks. Sunday’s loss in the capital marked a third defeat in four games in all competitions.
The fact that one of those defeats came via a penalty shootout against an impressive Paris Saint-Germain side in the Champions League and another against a Newcastle United team vying to end their club’s 70-year trophy drought in the Carabao Cup final offers some mitigation.
Liverpool were unlucky against PSG and, after an energy-sapping 120 minutes, struggled to match Newcastle’s hunger and tenacity a few days later. Against Fulham, though, Liverpool were the architects of their own downfall. They conceded three goals in the space of 14 first-half minutes, after taking an early lead through Alexis Mac Allister‘s wonder strike, before Luis Díaz got one back in the second half.
“I think there is no reason for us to be complacent,” Slot in his news conference afterward. “We are not No. 1 at the moment because we win every game with a margin of three or four goals … That’s not the way it is for us, so we are fully aware of the fact we have to compete for seven more games.”
Slot and his players may be just a handful of games away from cementing their place in the annals of Liverpool history, but the coming weeks promise to be instructive, both in terms of shaping the wider narrative around their campaign and dictating whose position might be under threat at Anfield next season.
What’s gone wrong?
Liverpool have had an exceptional season, but recent results have given credence to the view in some quarters that the team are far from the finished article. After losing just one game in 27 in all competitions before January, Slot’s side have been beaten six times in 22 since the turn of the year, although two of those defeats (away to PSV Eindhoven in the league phase of the Champions League and Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals) ultimately proved of little consequence.
Fatigue has been mooted as one potential reason for Liverpool’s drop-off, though Slot dismissed this suggestion after the loss at Craven Cottage. According to Opta, only 10 outfield players in the Premier League have started all 31 games this season, three of whom play for Liverpool: Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Ryan Gravenberch.
For Gravenberch, in particular, there is some weight to the argument that an increased workload has taken its toll in recent weeks. The 22-year-old has played 2,657 minutes in the league, more than double the 1,120 he clocked up in 2023-24. That his midfielder deputy, Wataru Endo, has yet to start a league game is reflective of Slot’s tendency to rely on a relatively small crop of players.
While it might be too simplistic to blame weary legs for Liverpool’s downturn in form, a degree of mental fatigue seems to have crept in for some. After all, barring the lesser-spotted Federico Chiesa, this is the same group of players who saw their season implode in spectacular fashion under Jurgen Klopp a year ago. Perhaps some of the calamitous individual errors against Fulham were born from a bout of end-of-season nerves. If so, this is something Slot and his players must nip in the bud quickly, as they can’t afford to let the ghosts of last season return to haunt them in the coming weeks.
It is also no coincidence that Liverpool’s dip has coincided with a rare barren spell in front of goal for Salah. The Egypt international has enjoyed one of the great individual Premier League seasons, registering a mightily impressive 27 goals and 17 assists, and has contributed to a whopping 61% of Liverpool’s 72 league goals. But he has gone without scoring in his last four games in all competitions and his last league goals were a brace of penalties against strugglers Southampton in early March.
While Diogo Jota scored a fine winner in the Merseyside derby and Díaz was impactful as a substitute against Fulham, Liverpool’s attacking play is far less convincing when Salah’s influence wanes. Slot must hope his talisman is able to get back to his best between now and the end of the campaign.
What do Liverpool need to do in the summer?
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Despite Liverpool having dominated in the Premier League, this summer promises to be one of the busiest in years at Anfield.
The first, and perhaps most important piece of business has been done with Salah signing a new contract, ending a months-long saga over his future. Next, Liverpool must establish the futures of their other out-of-contract stars: Van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. While a source has told ESPN that Real Madrid are confident of landing Alexander-Arnold on a free transfer, there remains optimism on Merseyside that Van Dijk will commit.
Assuming that’s how the situation plays out, Liverpool will need to dip into the market for a right-back to provide competition for the 21-year-old Conor Bradley. The Northern Ireland international has proved a capable deputy for Alexander-Arnold since his breakthrough last season and has the quality to establish himself as Slot’s first choice. But his injury record — coupled with a lack of experience at elite level — means it would be a risk not to bolster that position.
On the opposite flank, the need to freshen up at left-back is glaring. Andrew Robertson has been a tremendous servant for the club since joining for £8 million from Hull City in 2017, but he has struggled for form this term. The Scotland captain’s catalogue of errors in the buildup to Fulham’s second goal were emblematic of his difficult campaign, while back-up Kostas Tsimikas is not viewed as a long-term solution and may be tempted to leave in search of regular minutes.
AFC Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez has been heavily linked with a £40m move to Anfield and, at 21, aligns well with Liverpool’s traditional recruitment policy of signing young players who already have a significant wealth of high-level experience. Ajax defender Jorrel Hato, 19, also fits that profile and is capable of playing as both a full-back and a central defender, while his transfer is valued at around £30m.
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At the other end of the pitch, Liverpool’s forward line is also in need of surgery. Darwin Núñez has endured another turbulent campaign and, after three seasons at Anfield, looks no closer to developing into the prolific No. 9 the club hoped he would become when they spent an initial £64m to sign him from Benfica in the summer of 2022.
Jota is a more natural goal scorer, but he too has looked some way off his best this season and his continued injury struggles often leave Liverpool in need of someone to take up the mantle as first-choice center forward. Of course, Slot’s side will not be the only team in the market for a striker, and the likes of Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, Napoli‘s Victor Osimhen (on loan at Galatasaray) and RB Leipzig‘s Benjamin Sesko will come at a premium of between £70m-£150m. But they might be able to recoup some money from the possible exit of Núñez to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere.
While the club are unlikely to sign more than three or four new players, it would be shrewd for Liverpool to recruit a midfielder to help lighten the load on Gravenberch. And the Reds have not signed a center-back since Ibrahima Konaté in 2021, so could benefit from a reshuffle there too, even if Van Dijk stays on.
Considering this squad is likely to be crowned champions of England in the not-too-distant future, it’s clear there is still plenty of room for improvement. For now, though, Liverpool’s focus must be on returning to winning ways — starting with this weekend’s visit of West Ham United to Anfield. Anything less than three points against Graham Potter’s side and there will be concerns that the Reds’ slight malaise is descending into a mini-crisis which could leave scars that even a summer of good transfer business can’t fix.
