It seems premature to be fretting about the fate of the title race midway through August, but with the bar now set by the Premier League’s top two, four points dropped across two matches feels like plenty.
After their opening weekend draw at Fulham, Liverpool were again held last night, this time by Crystal Palace here at Anfield, while Manchester City have swept aside West Ham and Bournemouth in convincing, ominous fashion.
If this were a Formula 1 Grand Prix, already you would be fearing the fun was over, the pole-sitting champions having got to the first corner unscathed and already scampered clear.
In pre-season testing (read: the Community Shield) it looked like Liverpool had all the early pace. Now, increasingly ravaged by injury, and suspension, too, after Darwin Nunez’s crazy red card, they need the safety car out.
Jurgen Klopp was without Joel Matip, Ibrahima Konate, Thiago Alcantara, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota for the visit of the Eagles, while Joe Gomez and Naby Keita were deemed fit enough only for the bench.
The sight of Nat Phillips — who did little wrong — drafted in at centre-back, brought back memories of the title non-race of two seasons ago, when Liverpool eventually finished third, 17 points behind City in the midst of a defensive injury crisis, rather than last term’s epic, when they were split by just one.
Make no bones about it, the XI Klopp was able to field, which included at least seven of his first-choice side and was spearheaded from the start for the first time by £64million summer signing Nunez, should still have had enough to get the job done and perhaps they would have, had either the Uruguayan or Mo Salah taken one of the early chances laid on by the excellent Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Instead, they were torn apart on 32 minutes by a devastating counter-attack, finished by Wilfried Zaha, and did not peg Palace back until Luis Diaz’s stunner just after the hour-mark.
That came just minutes after Nunez had been shown a straight red card for a brainless headbutt on Joachim Andersen and, for all they were dominated in spells, Palace, with a man advantage, might really have won it, Zaha missing their best chance as he found the outside of the post stretching to meet a cross with his right-foot when he should have used his left.
It was an impressive away performance from Palace and an important point for Patrick Vieira’s side, who have been handed a nightmarish start by the fixture computer, with Arsenal on opening night and City to come before the end of August. Defeat at Anfield would have put undue pressure on the weekend’s meeting with Aston Villa, where another loss could suddenly have had the Eagles staring down the barrel of four in a row to start the campaign.
Klopp said last weekend that his side’s 2-2 at Craven Cottage had felt like a defeat and here he could at least take consolation in a much-improved display and a defiant response after Nunez’s dismissal.
“Really good,” Klopp said. “I told the boys after the game I’m proud, and I am — that’s what I feel.”
Surely though, the 55-year-old will be wondering, in the context of the title race, how much damage has already been done. Perhaps, with a World Cup sandwiched in the middle, this could be the season when standards at the top slip out of necessity.
Perhaps, things could even look very different by this time next week, with City heading to Newcastle on Sunday for a fixture with all sorts of broader meaning, while Liverpool travel to whipping boys Manchester United on Monday night.
Or perhaps it will take until mid-October, when City go to Anfield, for Liverpool to have chance to strike back. Certainly between now and then, they cannot allow the pace-setters to pull further clear.
