I must admit to having been a bit more worried about Liverpool’s chances of stopping Arsenal from winning the Premier League title once the Anfield club had got rid of their Northern Irish manager Brendan Rodgers and replaced him with the charismatic German coach Jurgen Klopp.
Even though Rodgers came so close a couple of years ago to taking the Premier League trophy to Liverpool for the first time, he never looked like repeating the feat after losing Luis Suarez to Barcelona. But Klopp came with a great reputation and a history of success against the might of the German giants Bayern Munich.
And for a while it looked like the fears of Arsenal fans, many of whom had made Klopp one of the managers we would have liked to replace Arsene Wenger, would prove to be well founded. When they took apart Man City and beat them 4-1 at the Etihad stadium, it was the start of a four game winning streak. But that hefty 6-1 win at Southampton in the Capital One Cup was their last.
The rest of December has seen two drab draws against Sion and West Brom and two defeats against Newcastle and Watford in which Liverpool failed to score. So has the Klopp effect faltered? I’m not sure but he is certainly finding that the job is a tough one.
They now sit nine points behind Arsenal and we have tomorrow’s game in hand. I think that we can now forget about them as realistic title contenders, don’t you?