I know some Liverpool fans still believe the Quadruple is on, but if anyone were to offer me odds of it happening in the here and now then, frankly, it’s not a bet I’d be taking.
Manchester City are so far odds-on to win the Premier League title that I just don’t see them slipping up against Aston Villa at home on Sunday. Even if there is extra motivation for Villa boss Steven Gerrard and midfielder Philippe Coutinho, as Liverpool old boys, and for Danny Ings and Tyrone Mings as boyhood Reds, to deny City they points they need.
Villa are an open side, they aren’t a great counter-attacking or defensive-block team. So while those little extras might have made a difference at Villa Park, at the Etihad I just don’t see Gerrard, Coutinho, Ings and Mings influencing the rest of the Villa dressing room enough for them to play the game like it was a cup final.
I also go back to the fact that, when you desperately need something, and this would be City’s only chance of a trophy in a season when they have been very good for 99 percent of the time, that desperation often helps you over the line. No one can tell me there won’t be times when Villa will switch off, even if it’s only for the odd minute here or there, and with City’s desire, that will make all the difference.
From that perspective, then, there’s a 0.1 percent chance of the Quad being done by my old club, hence my scepticism. And all that, of course, is assuming Southampton don’t beat Liverpool on Tuesday night and that they are still in the Premier League title race when they take to the field against Wolves on Sunday.
I’m confident they will be. But as a Villa fan and despite knowing well the qualities my club have, I would still be surprised if it was anything other than a defeat by two or three clear goals for Gerrard and the gang and another City title.
Whatever happens this week and whatever happens against Real Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28, if Liverpool finish the season with just the two domestic cups they have already won then the achievement is still great in the context of modern football.
To be in a position in which you have played every game in every competition you entered, even with a squad of up to 25 players, is a sign of where a club is and of where they could get to.
It is an immense achievement. While I don’t think the Quad will be done this season, I have no doubt that with five substitutes coming in, someone will do it in the next three or four seasons, and once they have I could easily see it happening multiple times in the decade that followed.
City would be favourites to do it because of their resources but, if it is Liverpool, then it will be because they have been that little bit cleverer than their rivals.
