The credibility, or otherwise, of Liverpool’s challenge for the title will be known by Saturday night. Beating Fulham will not win them the league, but failing to will expose what many believe is the fatal flaw at the heart of their campaign: the pressure of history.
Delivering the first title of the modern, Premier League era is not a task that has sat well with Rafael Benitez’s team at times this season. Their current run of form is little less than brilliant, but one cannot help but notice that it has been achieved when the majority, perhaps even some within the club, thought the game was up.
There is a world of difference between leading from the front, as Liverpool were required to do in the weeks before Christmas, and trailing Manchester United by such a hefty margin that Benitez’s team was, in essence, playing with nothing to lose.
That was the situation when Liverpool went to Old Trafford earlier this month and produced the result that sparked a remarkable turnaround in fortunes. Liverpool hurt Manchester United that day and Sir Alex Ferguson’s players were still smarting when they turned in an inadequate and arrogant performance at Craven Cottage a week later. Liverpool’s subsequent annihilation of Aston Villa merely underlined their status as the men in form.
It did something else, too. It took Liverpool into a position from where a win on Saturday will see them return to the top of the league. Suddenly, anticipation and expectations are high again. The pressure, all on United in recent weeks, is back on Benitez’s players. They have to deliver.
At the start of December, Liverpool went into a league game at home to West Ham United needing a win to go three points clear (of Chelsea, at the time). A friend, who is a regular at Anfield, predicted that if the score was 0-0 after 20 minutes, the tension would be palpable. He was wrong. The locals waited 30 minutes before
Anfield began emitting the sort of vibes that can only be felt when a team has not won the title in 19 years.
It is the reason that Ferguson regards his first title win at Manchester United as his greatest. He was not just fighting Aston Villa for top spot, he was battling against the crushing desire to bring the Championship to Old Trafford for the first time since 1967. Manchester United won the league by 10 points that year, a comfortable margin. It is unlikely Liverpool will have that privilege.
Unless Manchester United kick imperiously for home, it is going to be tense, starting this week when Liverpool must win if they are not to gift their rivals a chance to put them back to square one. Victory for Liverpool, meanwhile, would present a fresh set of problems for United.
Ferguson must pick teams to handle two matches in three days, against Aston Villa, then Porto. The depth of United’s squad has been a huge advantage this season, but might it not also place Ferguson in a quandary about which players to choose for which match? If Liverpool do not stumble, can he really afford to be below strength against Villa?
It is Liverpool’s reaction to their changed circumstances that will define this weekend.
Martin Samuel is the chief sports writer of the Daily Mail, where his column appears on Monday and Wednesday