Michael Owen has stated his belief that Liverpool will secure a top-four finish if they can come through their next five games intact.
The Reds have a tough run coming up, with Manchester’s United, City, Arsenal and Chelsea to play in the next five. It doesn’t get much harder than that,
But it also gives Liverpool the opportunity to really put themselves back in the running for top four. And speaking to premierleague.com after last night’s win over Wolves, Owen believes this little batch of games is season defining for the Reds.
“If they’re no further away from the top four after that run of fixtures, then they’ll do it. I’m convinced of it,” said the 43-year-old.
“I mean that is defining, they could be out of it after those. If they go on a poor run in that they could be 10, 12 points adrift with eight games to go or something – it’ll all be over. If they’re still within three, four, five points of the top four after those fixtures, then they’ll do it.”
Big guns on the horizon for Liverpool
Owen is right on the money here. After these next five games are out of the way, we start hitting final stretch territory in the Premier League. There’ll be nine games left once the whistle goes against Arsenal on April 8th.
That’s plenty of time, really. But if Liverpool are still a distance away from the Champions League spots, it’ll be hard to claw it back.
So, this little clump of games really is big. In the past, the Reds have tended to turn up when going up against the traditionally bigger sides. Do so again, and they’ll put themselves in a brilliant position.
That has to start with a win against United this Sunday. The Red Devils are flying currently and are chasing their own quadruple dream this season. But a win at Anfield this weekend would put Liverpool just seven points behind their old rivals. That would really go against the respective narratives of both teams.
And with City and Arsenal still to play too, the Reds could yet have their own little say in the title race.
A few weeks ago, most Liverpool fans would be feeling incredibly downbeat heading into such big games. But with the team now functioning much better and clean sheets being racked up, there should be genuine optimism that a top four finish is still a real possibility.