Liverpool seal Premier League title with Tottenham thrashing – and Anfield gets its crowning moment in the sun | OneFootball

The banner in the Kop borrowed from the words Virgil van Dijk used when signing his new contract. “It was always Liverpool,” it read. And over a season, it was. Even on a day when they briefly trailed, it was always going to be Liverpool. This was a coronation rather than a contest, the culmination of a wonderful debut season for Arne Slot.

The chants of “we’re going to win the league” were scarcely bold predictions but became factually accurate when Thomas Bramall blew the final whistle, when the substituted players spilled on to the pitch, when Arne Slot and his staff bounced around in a group hug, when Mohamed Salah took selfies with the Kop, Dominik Szoboszlai hung off the crossbar and jubilation engulfed Liverpool.

Some three hours earlier, red smoke outside heralded the arrival of the new champions. Manchester City’s four-year reign was ended in the Merseyside sun. Liverpool have not merely been the best team this season. They have been the most consistent and the most reliable. An event that some had waited decades to experience delivered what it promised.

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Mohamed Salah scored Liverpool’s fourth as the Reds clinched the Premier League title against Spurs (Getty Images)

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Liverpool’s Premier League title win was confirmed with four matches to go (PA Wire)

A first title in front of fans in 35 years, a first at Anfield since 1990, a record-equalling 20th in total. Manchester United have company at the top; in another respect, Liverpool are alone, 15 points clear of Arsenal this season, with 43 more than United.

This was sealed in style: with a glorious goal from Alexis Mac Allister, a trademark strike from Mohamed Salah, with a rout. Liverpool scored five to take their tally against Tottenham this season to 15; if Spurs can regret Slot’s decision to stay at Feyenoord in 2023, Liverpool have been rewarded for targeting him a year later.

Slot’s name rang around Anfield, just as it did last May when Jurgen Klopp led the chorus. Not for the first time, the German has come to look prescient. Slot’s smooth succession has brought a triumph few predicted nine months ago. Kenny Dalglish, who won the title in his first season as manager, almost 40 years ago, watched on.

So did many another from a battalion of their former players, men whose medals could be counted in the dozens. There have been times when Liverpool’s past has provided unflattering comparisons. Not in the last few years, though, when the teams of Klopp and Slot have been worthy successors to the grey-haired greats.

Anfield was swathed in expectation. A team with a capacity to get the job done did not let them down. When questions have been asked this season, they have tended to provide the appropriate answers. When Tottenham led, Liverpool responded with two goals in eight minutes, a third 10 minutes later, two more in the second half. They have thrashed relatively few sides this season but Spurs, with one eye on Anfield and one on the Arctic Circle, were walloped again.

Liverpool needed one point, got three and scored five times. Anfield sang about winning the league before kick-off and then witnessed Liverpool do it. To no great surprise, either. Slot picked the 11 players with most league starts this season. There can be a reassuring predictability to his team. There was in the outcome.

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Liverpool fans welcomed the team bus with flares and noise ahead of the Tottenham clash (Getty Images)

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Alexis Mac Allister scored a brilliant second goal for Liverpool (AP)

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Cody Gakpo’s clever finish gave the Reds a two-goal cushion at half-time (Getty Images)

The only element of the unexpected came early. Dominic Solanke, scorer of a solitary goal as a Liverpool player, struck against them, heading in James Maddison’s corner and barely celebrating. Yet Tottenham would not spoil the party; they are a team who ruin their own fans’ days instead and a 19th league defeat duly followed.

It had Slot’s imprint on it. Liverpool’s long-term planning has been garnished by his deft touch. The Dutchman has reinvented players he inherited from Klopp. Luis Diaz is a case in point, a winger repurposed as a centre-forward and a tap-in was his third goal in four games. The celebration was delayed, Dominik Szoboszlai initially ruled offside when he crossed. Technology ensured an equaliser was awarded.

Then there is Cody Gakpo, sometimes a false nine, occasionally a midfielder for Klopp, invariably a left winger for Klopp. His 17th goal of a productive campaign was squeezed through a crowded box, after he had already seen one goal disallowed.

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Salah scored his 27th Premier League goal of the season (Getty Images)

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Liverpool players celebrate their win against Tottenham which sealed their 20th league title (Getty Images)

Their goals sandwiched Mac Allister’s majestic strike from 20 yards, soaring past Guglielmo Vicario. When Liverpool required excellence in April, Mac Allister has been arguably their outstanding individual in the run-in. A £35m bargain meant their first three goals came from players bought for “Liverpool 2.0”, Klopp’s replacements for the heroes of 2019 and 2020.

Their fourth was scored by the greatest of their last decade. Mohamed Salah drilled in his first goal in seven games but his 33rd of the season and a 200th for Liverpool with his left foot. Destiny Udogie denied Salah a 201st, but only by turning Trent Alexander-Arnold’s centre into his own net.

It gave Slot time to bring on his squad players, Liverpool a chance to savour their achievement. They have had weeks to do it, really. Yet the reality they had a lone league title since 1990, and that in the strangeness of Covid times, rendered this a unique experience for many of those present. They have seen Liverpool become champions, and emphatically. Because, this season, it was always Liverpool.