Liverpool can’t seem to click into gear so far this season, having won just four of their opening 11 Premier League games.
The Reds last outing saw them on the wrong side of a surprise 1-0 score line at the hands of newly promoted Nottingham Forest on Saturday lunchtime at the City Ground. It meant Jurgen Klopp’s men are still yet to win a single away game in the league so far this term as they start to fall behind the chasing pack.
After a shoddy start, Liverpool now languish as low as eighth in the table and find themselves two points behind Marco Silva’s Fulham who are slowly emerging as the surprise package of the season.
What is potentially more concerning in the eyes of Klopp is that his side are a stunning 12 points behind league-leaders Arsenal, who are aiming to dislodge Liverpool as Manchester City ’s main title rivals.
There is the chance to give the morale around the red half of Merseyside a boost on Wednesday evening when the Reds take on Ajax in the penultimate match of their Champions League group stage.
A defeat could seal Liverpool’s fate as runners-up in Group E and make life even harder come the knockout stages.
Mirror Football has collected all the main talking points coming out of Anfield on Wednesday, October 26.
Salah’s record at risk
Reds talisman Mohamed Salah currently boasts the record for most goals scored in a Premier League season, but that could soon be snatched from him according to Pep Guardiola.
The boss of Liverpool’s main rivals of the last few years has confidently claimed Erling Haaland can surpass the 32-goal tally that Salah managed over the course of the 2017/18 season. Even though the current campaign is just 11 games in, City’s new talisman looks on course to shatter plenty of records.
In 11 outings, Haaland has notched an astonishing 17 goals in a haul that includes three separate hat-tricks. The former Borussia Dortmund man has 27 games to notch 16 more goals and he’ll have overtaken Liverpool’s leading man.
“You don’t have to be a genius. If he continues with this rhythm, the average every game he is going to break the record.
“But in football, maybe you score and then a few days you stop scoring, you don’t know," Guardiola said.
Find his comments in full HERE.
Klopp departure could be near
Liverpool’s hierarchy could decide to part ways with Jurgen Klopp come the end of the season as progress is starting to stall under the German, according to former Premier League boss Tim Sherwood.
The news would come as a shock considering Klopp extended his stay at Anfield until the summer of 2026 earlier this year.
Sherwood told the Kelly and Wrighty show: “I don’t think Jurgen Klopp is there next season. I think there’s a conversation to be had.
I’m not sure Jurgen picks them up from where they are and makes them challengers again, I really don’t.
"History says he doesn’t do that. He’s very good and drives teams all the way. But it’s going to be a fight to get in the top-four now. If they miss out on the top four it’s a rebuild, a total rebuild.
“I don’t think they’ll sack him, but there will be a conversation where both parties agree that Jurgen has taken them as far as he can and they go for a new challenge. That’s just my hunch when I look at him and the team.”
Read Sherwood’s assessment in full.
Liverpool’s fixture concerns
Klopp’s feelings on the hectic Premier League schedule, particularly around the festive period, are well-documented but he could be more furious than usual having seen Liverpool’s fixtures after the World Cup.
The league season pauses on November 13 for the World Cup, before resuming in time for the traditional Boxing Day fixtures on December 26.
Liverpool will face off with Aston Villa at Villa Park at 5:30 on Boxing Day, before welcoming former boss Brendan Rodgers and his Leicester side for an 8pm kick-off on December 30.
Three days after, Klopp takes his players to the capital for an away clash against Brentford.
In turn, the Reds will take to the pitch on three separate occasions over the course of 168 hours.
In contrast, big-six rivals City and Arsenal get an extra 24 hours of rest as they are due to play three times in nine days.
Analyse the schedule HERE.
