Lucas Leiva has made a confident prediction about Liverpool’s hopes for the upcoming season, their first under Arne Slot.
The Reds finished third in the Premier League in Jurgen Klopp’s farewell campaign, having been firmly in the title mix until a wretched run in April left them having to settle for bronze.
In an interview with GOAL, our former midfielder preached a message of ‘shoot for the stars’ when it comes to LFC’s ambitions for 2024/25.
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When asked where Liverpool will finish in the table this season, Lucas replied: “Very difficult to say. It is a new team, a new manager. I think last year Liverpool showed that they can challenge for all the competitions. The last four or five weeks of the season Liverpool missed out on two cups with the Premier League and the FA Cup.
“Realistically, of course, Liverpool have to challenge for the title, but we know how difficult is to beat Man City and Arsenal. Top four is really important, and after that, build up from there. But I would say first, why not? I believe Liverpool can win the league.”
Had it not been for injuries taking their toll and a visible fatigue in the players during the run-in to last season, Liverpool mightn’t have been far away at all from sending Klopp out with the fairytale scenario of a second Premier League title.
It’s asking a lot of Slot and his squad to go the distance in his first year in charge, especially when it’d require the Reds to usurp both Manchester City and Arsenal, while also ensuring that any other challengers are seen off.
Beating the Gunners in pre-season action will give the players no shortage of confidence, even with the caveats that neither team was at full strength and that it was a non-competitive fixture.
We’d venture to suggest that, by and large, Liverpool supporters would shake on a preservation of the status quo in terms of final league position in their first post-Klopp campaign, although the more optimistic of LFC fans might just share Lucas’ stratospheric hopes.
If the Brazilian’s faith turns out to be prophetic, then Slot will already have hero-worship status secured after just one year in the job. Oh how we’d love for our former midfielder to be right!
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The post ‘I believe…’ – Lucas Leiva makes bold Liverpool prediction that Reds fans would love to see appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.
