Exclusive interview with Cody Gakpo as the Liverpool forward assesses the Premier League title race and the impact of Man City falling away
For some, the silverware may as well be handed over now, while others believe the race has now turned into a procession. But for good reason are runaway leaders Liverpool very much taking nothing for granted in the Premier League.
Memories of failed recent title challenges mean the Reds remain firmly focused on what is still required to ensure a record-equalling 20th championship makes its way to Anfield.
The longer-serving members of the squad recall the agony of falling short against Manchester City in 2019 and 2022 despite pushing Pep Guardiola’s side to the final weekend of the season, while last season’s stumble towards the line still stings with all concerned.
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And even when Liverpool were romping home with at one stage a 25-point lead in 2020, they had to withstand a three-month break in the campaign due to a global pandemic and calls from rival personalities for the season to be declared null and void before they could finally seal the deal.
The disappointing finale to 12 months ago, though, is freshest in the minds of the Reds players. And while skipper Virgil van Dijk has regularly banged the drum for taking lessons from the experience, Cody Gakpo has detailed what can make the difference.
“There are a lot of things we have to learn,” he says, speaking exclusively to the ECHO. “One good thing is that we that we stick together as a team and also that we had already one year all together, so we have more experience together, and also as a player individually I have that experience, those things will help.
“You know, if you look at other teams that win titles, most of the time the longer they are together, the more they know how to deal with certain periods in the season, because every season has very high periods, a little bit a dip, that’s normal.
“But I think the more experienced you are, the longer you are together, those situations are more easy to overcome. Hopefully we learn from that, and we feel already that we are learning from last season, but hopefully we can show it as well and keep winning.”
Liverpool weren’t helped last year by the relentless injury crisis that at one point saw them without 13 senior players. Both Arsenal and City have this term discovered the difficulty of dealing with such problems, with their respective drop-offs in form and points tallies suggesting they haven’t quite been able to cope with it as well as the Reds.
And reflecting on last term, Gakpo adds: “The injuries are a thing. Obviously with an injury, you cannot do anything about it sometimes in some ways. But it didn’t help last season that we missed I think six or seven players who could start every game and we missed them for one or two months. That didn’t help at all.
“Hopefully we can keep everybody fit, or mostly everybody because some are already injured, but hopefully they can come back as soon as possible and we can keep everybody as fit as possible towards the end of the season and make it a good one.”
Playing predominantly on the left flank, Gakpo has been in impressive form this season, scoring 16 goals in 38 appearances. After two cameo appearances from the bench having returned from two games out through injury, the 25-year-old will be pressing for a recall to the starting line-up for the Champions League round of 16 first leg at Paris Saint-Germain next Wednesday.
The Premier League crown, though, is the priority. But Gakpo admits the absence of City from the title race has given Liverpool’s pursuit of the championship a different dimension.
“We know we’re not supposed to look at them in a way that makes us think ‘oh, if they win, we have to win’ or that we have to win every game,” he says. “But, obviously, we cannot lie if we say that we haven’t noticed City are a little bit more struggling compared to recent years.
“It is how it is and we have to just stay focused on ourselves and try to keep winning every game because everybody knows how hard it can be, and every game is a difficult one.
“So, yeah, we have to win as many games as possible and then hopefully we win the title at the end.”
Seven more victories from the remaining 10 games is the very most Liverpool need to be crowned champions. And Gakpo and his Liverpool team-mates have no desire to step off the gas now.