EPL Delusion: High time Liverpool learnt

In the Premier League, the English media is as much a rival to Liverpool as the 19-teams challenging for league positions.

The Premier League is as much a battle of minds as it is of physical prowess—a lesson Liverpool and others must surely have learned by now. In this league, nothing is certain until the final whistle on the last matchday.

Manchester City’s shocking 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad has sparked a flurry of social media narratives. Liverpool are now being touted as title favorites, with talk of Arne Slot potentially winning a Premier League title in his debut season—a feat no Liverpool manager has ever achieved.

But such narratives, while tantalizing, are dangerously premature and fail to reflect the harsh realities of the title race. Liverpool have been here before.

Read More:

Guardiola resort to mind games ahead of facing Liverpool

The Reds have mounted at least four major title challenges in the last decade—three under Jürgen Klopp and one under Brendan Rodgers during the 2013/14 season. Each time, they came agonizingly close, only to fall short to Manchester City. A recurring factor in their heartbreak? The relentless media hype that fuels premature celebrations and stirs crippling pressure.

The media the real villain hellbent on helping Manchester City…

In modern Premier League history, the English media have played a significant role in shaping the psychological landscape of the title race. Endless TV punditry, newspaper headlines, and social media debates amplify expectations, often inflating one team’s odds to unrealistic proportions. This hype can linger for months, setting players up for a mental spiral of fear and anxiety as the decisive final weeks approach.

Liverpool and Arsenal have both been recent victims of this phenomenon. Despite their impressive campaigns, they’ve struggled to convert mid-season dominance into end-of-season triumph, while Manchester City, under Pep Guardiola, continue to demonstrate a steely knack for turning the tide.

City’s current five-point deficit—or even the potential eight-point gap if Liverpool beat Southampton—does not eliminate Guardiola’s side from contention. Time and again, Guardiola has shown his ability to rally his team, overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds to clinch titles, often in dramatic fashion on the final day of the season.

If there’s one lesson for Liverpool, Arsenal, and even Chelsea to learn, it’s this: the real title race begins in April, not December. Anything before that is just a prelude to the drama of the closing act. A single defeat, even as staggering as City’s loss to Spurs, does not define a season. The Premier League is won by those who can maintain focus and fortitude through the psychological gauntlet, not just those who shine early.

For Liverpool, the challenge now is not just to sustain their form, but to silence the noise, manage expectations, and remember that in this league, no title is won until it is truly over, especially if the media is hellbent on stopping them.