Steven Gerrard rolled back the years on Saturday as he returned to Anfield for the latest Liverpool Legends match. Taking on Barcelona, the legendary Reds captain scored a penalty and completed the full 90 minutes as the Catalans ran out 2-1 winners.
Now head coach of Aston Villa, the 41-year-old continues to be linked with a permanent return to Anfield one day as Liverpool manager, having made no secret of his desire to become Reds boss at some point in his career. However, with Jurgen Klopp’s contract set to expire in 2024, the former England international has continually side-stepped suggestions that he could replace the German.
Arguably Liverpool’s greatest ever player, Gerrard won virtually every major honour going during his 17-year career with the Reds, lifting the Champions League, UEFA Cup, FA Cup twice and League Cup three times. However, he failed to win the Premier League during his playing career, with his infamous slip against Chelsea ultimately contributing to sabotaging his closest title challenge in 2013/14.
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Should the Liverpool legend indeed return to the club as manager one day, he’ll inevitably look to succeed where he once failed as a player and be desperate to complete the major prize set for his boyhood club. After all, while Klopp might have led the Reds to the title in 2020, and could indeed do so again this year, Gerrard’s lack of a Premier League title on his CV ensures he still has unfinished business at Anfield.
Having only taken over at Aston Villa last November, for his second ever managerial position following his success with Rangers, it’s far too early to say if the former Liverpool captain will be in a position to become Reds boss in 2024 and replace Klopp, or even take to their dugout in the future. However, that will never stop the speculation about a possible Anfield return.
But while Gerrard might have to wait a little while longer yet to be given a second opportunity at getting his hands on a Premier League title at Liverpool, he could actually play a deciding role in the Reds winning the league this season courtesy of his role with Villa.
Klopp’s men currently sit second in the table, just a point behind Manchester City ahead of the two teams facing off at the Etihad on Sunday, April 10 in a potential early title-decider. Win and top spot should be Liverpool’s, depending on the result of their next league outing against Watford. With their title hopes in their own hands, if the Reds win all their remaining matches then they will be champions.
With proceedings so finely-poised behind Liverpool and City at the top of the table, the title race currently looks set to go down to the wire, as it did in the 2018/19 season, regardless of the outcome of next month’s game at the Etihad. In 2019 it was the Reds who fell short, finishing a point behind Pep Guardiola’s men as both sides won their last matches against Wolves and Brighton respectively.
If both clubs find themselves in a similar situation this season, Liverpool will again have to get the better of Wolves at Anfield to stand a chance of winning the title. Meanwhile, Man City will host Aston Villa, meaning Gerrard could stand in their way of being crowned champions themselves, with this final day scenario a mirror image of when Reds legend Kenny Dalglish returned to his former club with Blackburn Rovers on the final day of the 1994/95 season and managed to pip Manchester United to the title.
Gerrard isn’t the only former Red currently on the books at Villa Park, of course, with Philippe Coutinho currently on loan from Barcelona and Danny Ings a summer signing from Southampton. Meanwhile, Gary McAllister is one of a number of former Liverpool employees on the Aston Villa coaching staff.
The Scot would win the treble at Anfield in 2000/01 but would miss out on a second league title, having won the old First Division with Leeds United in 1991/92. Meanwhile, Coutinho and Ings both left the Reds in 2018 at a time when Klopp was on the verge of bringing both the Premier League and Champions League back to Anfield.
Be it Gerrard, Coutinho or Ings, they all have unfinished business of sorts on Merseyside and their allegiances will be very clear when it comes to who they want to win the Premier League title this season - their former club or Man City. And while it won’t be their main motivation at the Etihad on Sunday, May 22, it won’t be lost on Kopites the role they could play for their former club.
Liverpool would obviously like to be in a position where they are either already champions or don’t need to rely on favours from elsewhere to come out on top in the title race. But if it comes to it, having never won the Premier League themselves for the Reds, Gerrard, Coutinho and Ings could all have a big say on if the title is returning to Anfield in May when taking on Guardiola’s side in their own final-day showdown.
