“That would make things difficult” – Danny Murphy says only one thing could derail phenomenal Liverpool start

Ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy spoke about Liverpool’s performances and shared his thoughts on whether they could win the treble, considering how they’re performing in the Premier League, the Champions League and the cup competitions.

Arne Slot’s Liverpool continue to march towards the Premier League title and now have a seven point lead on Chelsea in second, who slipped up against Fulham on Boxing Day. A win for Arsenal today would cut it down to six points but Slot’s men will still have a game in hand.

Winning the treble is tough but Liverpool should be ambitious

Murphy was full of praise for the Reds’ performances but remarked that historically, winning the treble has not been easy for any side. That being said, he feels that the players should be ambitious and try to win every competition that they’re in.

“We’ve seen in history that the treble is a very difficult thing to do. There are always spells in the season, especially in cup competitions, where one bad game or week can jeopardise that dream.”

“They’re playing so well that they should be ambitious. When you’re playing that well, everyone’s fit, there’s competition for places, I think it’s the right thing to try and win everything.” 

“I don’t see them trying to prioritize one competition. He did rest a few players for the Southampton game obviously but you could argue that some of the players coming in have been staking a claim anyway.”

He further adds that Liverpool fans won’t be clamouring for a treble, and considering this was supposed to be a season of transition, winning the Premier League or the Champions League would be a big achievement in the eyes of the Kop faithful.

“Yeah, maybe dream about the treble but Liverpool fans, if you offer them either the Premier League or the Champions League, they would be more than happy with that, because the expectations when a new manager comes in, especially after someone like Klopp, is that there will be some transition.”

Liverpool treble betting odds

There are multiple different ways in which Liverpool can win a treble this season, with the bookies suggesting that their most probable chance of doing it is via winning the Premier League, Champions League and League Cup.

Injuries to Salah or van Dijk can derail the season

Murphy also warned that injuries to the likes of Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk have the potential to derail the season that Liverpool are having. He cited Arsenal as an example when they were missing Martin Ødegaard and they suffered a spate of defeats.

“So far, so good, it’s been a phenomenal start. The only thing I can see for Liverpool falling away or jeopardising the potential success is really bad injuries. If you were to have an unfortunate spate of injuries where Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah were out for a period then that would make things difficult because the numbers tell you how reliant they are on Salah for goals and assists. Virgil marshals the team brilliantly from the back and gives them the security that nobody else can quite do.”

“There’s always a risk that you can lose as the season goes on that you can lose your best players. We’ve seen that with Man City. Arsenal struggled early on without Ødegaard, now Saka’s injured. It’s the same for all the teams. So far, everything’s going well”

Arsenal are Liverpool’s closest competitors – they can fill that Saka void

When asked about who he thinks are Liverpool’s closest rivals for the league title, Murphy pointed to Arsenal instead of Chelsea. His reasoning is that Mikel Arteta’s side have more experience than Enzo Maresca’s men when it comes to a title challenge.

“I still got a feeling that Arsenal will come strong. The athleticism, the power that Arsenal have, brilliant defensively. They’ve had a bit of bad luck, the games they had players sent off, their league position would be different if it wasn’t for that.”

“Chelsea have been a breath of fresh air. They’ve exceeded expectations of even their own supporters I think. Because nobody’s expected it and they’ve got the size of the squad to mix the team up, they could maintain a challenge. And they’ve got such great attacking players.”

“But I think Arsenal will be Liverpool’s best competitor. I might be wrong, we’re all predicting these things but they’ve got a lot of experience now, of running the course and they’ve come close, twice. They won’t panic.”

Of course Arsenal’s title push is likely to be affected by the injury to Bukayo Saka but Murphy feels that Gabriel Jesus can slot in there better than most people are expecting him to. Saka suffered a hamstring injury and is likely to be out until February.

Arsenal will also be looking to Raheem Sterling’s return from injury as they would like to fill the void left by their best player being injured.

“I know there’s the blow that Saka is injured but I’ve got a feeling that Jesus might have a good run. He can play on the right. People forget how many times he filled in on the right for Man City in their title winning years, chipping in with goals as well. He can play that role really well.”

“It’ll be interesting to see if Arteta uses Sterling in that role because people forget Sterling’s numbers, his years and his experience. I know that he hasn’t played that many minutes but you’ve got Sterling and Jesus who are both capable and used to playing on that right side, both capable of scoring goals, have got the experience of winning and having a winning mentality.”

“Although Saka is a wonderful player and someone I admire greatly, I think Arsenal will be able to fill that void better than people are anticipating, depending on how long he’s out for.”

“I think at the end of the season if Liverpool finish above Arsenal, they win the league.”

It’s promising to be a very exciting season in the Premier League, with shock results happening most weeks, whilst we are also being treated to a very exciting title race, which is currently Liverpool’s to lose.