Get ready for party at Anfield as Liverpool looks to clinch Premier League title
Fireworks exploded from the roof. Red smoke filled the air. Family members applauded as players, one by one, lifted the trophy.
Yet Liverpool's Premier League title-winning celebrations in 2020 could hardly be described as a party. For one, no fans were allowed inside a mostly empty Anfield to witness it because of restrictions in place during the pandemic.
Five years later, it will all be so different.
Liverpool is again set to be crowned as English champion and, this time, its storied stadium will be filled — inside and no doubt on the concourses and roads outside — with supporters ready to commemorate the team's achievement.
Only one point is needed against Tottenham on Sunday for Liverpool to win the league.
In 2020, securing the title ended a 30-year drought. In 2025, it will mark another significant milestone: Tying fierce rival Manchester United's record of 20 English top-flight championships.
Expect the party to go on for some time, too. Liverpool fans have been waiting for this.
As the coronavirus raged in 2020, they were shut out of Anfield as Jordan Henderson did what no Liverpool captain had done since 1990 — lift the league trophy. Only a late government reprieve ensured players at least had a few family members inside the stadium. The select few granted invitations had to wear face masks.
Some fans made their presence felt by setting off pyrotechnics in nearby streets but it wasn't what they imagined a title party would feel like.
Do the business against Spurs and Liverpool would clinch the title with four games to go, ensuring an unassailable advantage over second-placed Arsenal.
For Arne Slot, it will be a Premier League title in his first season in English soccer. Only four managers — Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte — have ever done that.
And there will be a huge sense of satisfaction at ending the four-year hegemony of Manchester City, whose big drop-off this season has allowed Liverpool to fill the void.
The Reds have done so in impressive fashion, losing just twice — to Nottingham Forest and Fulham — and racking up 24 wins from 33 games.
Catching Man United
When United sealed title No. 20 in 2013 to go two clear of Liverpool, it felt like that gap would only get wider. Liverpool, after all, finished in seventh place that season.
Instead, United has regressed in the post-Alex Ferguson era — the team is in 14th place in the Premier League — and Liverpool has regained its status as an English and European giant, first under Jurgen Klopp and under his successor, Slot.
It's Liverpool which could pull clear now, especially with City needing to rebuild, the current Arsenal team yet to prove it can win a major trophy under Mikel Arteta, and United in crisis.
Liverpool will celebrate this title long and hard, but knows this can be just the start of a period of success.
FA Cup semifinals
By the time, Liverpool attempts to wrap up the Premier League, the finalists for the FA Cup will be known.
Hours earlier Sunday, Man City will take on Forest in the second semifinal at Wembley Stadium. On Saturday, Aston Villa will meet Crystal Palace.
Of the four semifinalists, only City has won a trophy this century. Forest's last piece of silverware was the English League Cup in 1990, Villa's was in 1996 (also the League Cup), while Palace — a beaten FA Cup finalist in 1990 and 2016 — has never won a major trophy.
Ipswich headed for relegation
Ipswich is set to become the third and final team to be relegated, joining Southampton and Leicester back in the Championship.
Ipswich — in third-to-last place — is 15 points from safety with five games remaining, so it's a matter of when not if.
Even beating Newcastle away on Saturday — which is unlikely in itself — might not be enough, with fourth-to-last Wolverhampton at home to Leicester that day and needing only a point to ensure survival.
If Ipswich is demoted, it means the three promoted teams will all have been relegated for the second straight season.
Source: Associated Press
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