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Liverpool are going to win the Premier League. At this point, needing just two wins in their final nine games even if Manchester City win out, it’s not in doubt. That, though, where they are with a quarter of the season still to play, isn’t normal.
It isn’t normal to win as much as this Liverpool have. It isn’t normal to win so often you end up on pace to register eight more points than Manchester City’s centurions. And that, says James Milner, has begun to skew perceptions.
“It is not a normal thing to win the amount of games we have,” Milner said. “As soon as you drop points, away in a Premier League game, that is normal. [But] those are the standards we have set, so when it happens to us all hell breaks loose.
“It is not easy to win Premier League games. I have been relegated and you think it is just an impossible task to win a game of football. You have to remember how hard it is and how competitive the Premier League is.”
In addition to being on pace to smash City’s season points record, this Liverpool side hold the record for most points over a 38 game stretch with 110, and their current 25 advantage is the largest in English top flight history.
Their loss last week to Watford may have been met with shock—with all hell breaking loose, as Milner puts it—but it and their recent dip in form has to be put into perspective. And that perspective is one of the all time greatest seasons.
That dip in form, though, is real. The players saw it, too. And it needs a response—a response that started against Bournemouth. Because for all the success and all the records, there’s still nearly a quarter of the season left to play.
“When things have gone so well people think it is easy,” Milner added. “People think, ‘Oh, they are going to win again, the title is done.’ No one gives you it. You have to win those games. You don’t go through a season without not playing well.
“It happens to everyone. It’s the same in every sport. There is always going to be a [difficult] spell and it is how you deal with it.”