After witnessing his beloved Liverpool dismantle bitter-rivals Manchester United courtesy of a 7-0 thrashing at Anfield last weekend, you could have forgiven Reds legend Jamie Carragher for being in the most buoyant of moods regarding the rest of the campaign.
After all, how many times have we witnessed an overly-enthusiastic Rio Ferdinand naively declare that ‘Man United are back’ after a positive result, only to be swiftly brought crashing straight back down to earth in recent years?
Jurgen Klopp’s side’s victory was spectacular and moved them up to fifth in the Premier League table. With Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United both losing, they saw an opportunity to close the gap on the top four and grabbed it with both hands.
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Now, if they beat AFC Bournemouth on Saturday lunchtime, they will leapfrog Spurs into fourth. And while Tottenham’s 3pm kick-off at home to Nottingham Forest could see them claim the place straight back after just a few short hours, Liverpool still boast a game in hand on Antonio Conte’s men.
The Reds were down in 10th, 11 points off the Champions League places, little over a month ago. It’s amazing what good a five-game unbeaten run, keeping clean sheets in all five while clinching morale-boosting victories over the likes of Everton, Newcastle, and now Man United, will do.
Yet despite this ever-growing feel-good factor slowly being restored at Anfield, Liverpool legend Carragher isn’t getting too carried. In fact, he actually admitted earlier this week that he isn’t convinced that the Reds will to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
"I think there’s probably a better feeling around Liverpool, even though I think Tottenham, this season, have probably performed better on a lot of occasions,” he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. "I still favour Tottenham, because I’ve actually looked right at the fixture list and they’ve got a lot more favourable fixtures than Liverpool do."
You’d expect such a stance from a Tottenham-supporting pundit, but from Reds legend Carragher, it is admittedly a surprise even if he isn’t ruling them out entirely.
Granted, he does have a point when you look at both sides’ remaining fixtures. Tottenham have 12 games left with their toughest tests arguably trips to Newcastle and Liverpool, sandwiched either side of a home clash with Manchester United in the final week of April. From their remaining fixtures, they face European-chasing Brighton & Hove Albion (H) and Brentford (H), mid-table Crystal Palace (H) and Aston Villa (A), and relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest (H), Southampton (A), Everton (A), Bournemouth (H) and Leeds United (A).
Meanwhile, Liverpool’s toughest tests come at the start of April as they travel to Manchester City and Chelsea, before hosting Arsenal in the space of eight days. They also have that home clash with Tottenham at the end of April.
From their other fixtures, they travel to relegation-threatened Bournemouth on Saturday, and also travel to fellow strugglers Leeds and West Ham United either side of a home clash with Forest, prior to hosting Spurs.
And in May, they host European-chasing Brentford, travel to struggling Leicester City, host mid-table Villa, and finish the campaign away at relegation-threatened Southampton, with a home clash with European hopefuls Fulham also needing to be rearranged.
Admittedly, those four ‘Big Six’ fixtures look slightly more daunting, though the Reds will at least be confident they can down Spurs at Anfield. But with a game-in-hand that could see them leapfrog the north London outfit also to consider, there still isn’t much to choose between their remaining fixture lists.
And besides, what could seem a more favourable fixture now in mid-March, could turn out rather differently at the business end of the season as sides fight for titles, European qualification, and survival. In other words, you can’t judge who will come out on top on paper, with it also still possible that both Liverpool and Tottenham actually miss out on the top four entirely.
However, the Reds will be looking to repeat their late heroics of 2020/21 which saw them finish the campaign with a 10-game unbeaten run to finish third against the odds, having looked certain to miss out on Europe altogether only a full weeks earlier. When on form and confident, few would back against Liverpool.
Given they are now five unbeaten, winning four, and haven’t conceded in the Premier League since that loss at Wolves over a month ago, only time will tell if they have now embarked on such a run and will build on their 7-0 thrashing of United in the weeks ahead.
But while Liverpool have seemingly turned a corner, with supporters hopeful that a top-four finish is within their grasp as a result, it’s a rather different story at Tottenham. As a result, maybe Carragher shouldn’t still be favouring the Londoners. After all, as things stand they are in increasing turmoil on and off the pitch.
Form-wise, March has been a disaster for them so far after exiting both the FA Cup, at the hands of Championship side Sheffield United, and the Champions League to AC Milan either side of a 1-0 loss to struggling Wolves. Meanwhile, while they beat the likes of Man City and Chelsea at home in February, they were also hammered 4-1 away at Leicester.
Now certain to end the season trophyless, again, it seems only a matter of time before Conte, who is out of contract at the end of the season, loses his job. Recent reports suggest he will be lucky to finish the campaign. Meanwhile, that lack of silverware has also prompted fresh talk of talisman Harry Kane leaving the club in the summer.
There has also been the public war of words between Richarlison and Conte this week after the Brazilian hit out at his manager for not playing him more and claimed his season has been 's**t', before the Italian agreed with his assessment of his individual campaign and responded by labelling the forward selfish. So much drama.
Throw in the fact that Sky Sports report that several players and staff are pleading with former manager Mauricio Pochettino to return to Spurs to ‘reinvigorate the club,’ while The Athletic suggest the Argentine would not be their preferred choice to replace Conte. As a result, it all feels rather chaotic and soap opera - Not the setting you want for a club to finish the season strongly and finish in the top four.
Tottenham have now 'failed' under Conte, Jose Mourinho, and Nuno Espirito Santo since sacking the popular Pochettino, a manager who led them to no trophies, back in November 2019 - just months after their Champions League final loss to Liverpool. It would seem that no matter who is in charge, Spurs will remain ‘Spursy’.
Granted, you can never write off the possibility of Conte ending on a high or, alternatively, losing his job prematurely with Tottenham then benefitting from a new manager bounce. But that’s all just ifs and buts. What we do know now is there is a lot of uncertainty hanging over the North London club.
As a result, Liverpool could be poised to take advantage as they chase down Champions League qualification. When you look at both clubs’ current situations, it does feel that Carragher’s faith in Tottenham is a little misplaced.
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