Liverpool's worrying predicament: Why 2020 may not be their year

Rarely has a team been so deserving of Premier League gold. Liverpool sat 25 points clear at the summit of the table, dropping only five points all campaign. If this season is rendered null and void, surely such a colossal gulf in class between Liverpool and the rest will only postpone the title arriving at Anfield for another year?

Liverpool came close in the 18/19 campaign - recording a points tally that would have won England's top flight in all but two seasons since its inception. Serious credit must be given to the squad to use such a disappointment as a fuel for producing another almost faultless league campaign. But to keep that same form going for a third straight season may push Jurgen Klopp and his players to their absolute limits.

Klopp has an imposing rival

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City won the 2017-18 Premier League title with a record points haul.

There aren't many better motivators in the game than Klopp, but he certainly has a close rival in Pep Guardiola. The serial winner and painstaking perfectionist topped the league in his second and third seasons on English pastures. Guardiola pushed his side to smash a plethora of Premier League records during the 17/18 campaign as City became the first team in the English top-flight to garner 100 points in a season.

The Catalan didn't allow standards to dip in 2018-19 as his team accumulated 98 points by thwarting a determined challenge from Liverpool, in the process racking up an incredible 198 league points in two consecutive title-winning campaigns.

However, after two years of dominance, Pep's men failed to get going this term. Injuries and a few contestable decisions didn't help their cause. But the team's week-in-week-out bullet-proof mentality has also waned. City had already lost seven and drawn three games by the time of the indefinite COVID-19 enforced stoppage.

City also had their eyes firmly on another prize: the Champions League when all football action came to a standstill due to the epidemic. It's fair to say the Abhu Dhabi oligarchs expected European dominance as they poured cash into the club.

Yet the 'Cityzens' have not come closer than a semi-final in the Champions League back in 2016. This year was supposed to be different. City cruised through the group stage and had taken one giant step towards the quarter-finals after beating Real Madrid in the Spaniard's hallowed backyard. A victory against the same team that ended their dream back in 2016 would have done wonders for their confidence in a competition that seemed to be opening up nicely for Pep's men.

Manchester City

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, European football was suspended just before the eagerly anticipated second leg was scheduled to take place. This season's tournament now awaits an uncertain conclusion. This would come as a devastating blow for the 'Cityzens' under normal circumstances. But the suspension of European football is further emphasised due to the club being, as it stands, banned from European competitions for the next two campaigns. Without the European dream to pursue, all focus will be firmly back on domestic matters.

Of course, Liverpool have a squad littered with model professionals - Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane, James Milner, and Virgil van Dijk to name a few - who aren't likely to dwell on the possible disappointment this campaign. However, Pep's lavishly assembled squad who may play without any European distractions, would be fighting to regain the Premier League crown. As things stand now, the prospect of whether City enter the new season as technically the defending champions or not, could be a terrifying proposition for anyone, including Liverpool.

Pep has made his name winning back-to-back titles and has never missed out on a domestic title two years running. The Catalan has shown in the past that he won't simply hang around unless he is fully committed to a project. If he remains at the helm for the start of next season and City are not competing in Europe, then it may not matter how good Liverpool are.

Football is a game of fine margins. At times the game is played as much in mind as with the feet. If events do unfold in a certain way, then momentum could swing back in City's favour, and Liverpool's long wait for a league title may yet continue for a while.