Joe Gomez is refusing to get carried away with Liverpool’s current standing in the Premier League, although he acknowledged that he’s delighted with how his team’s season has gone so far.
A dominant 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday saw the Reds extend their lead to nine points, having dropped only five out of a possible 39 so far, and they’ve now become many pundits’ favourites to be crowned champions in May.
As the longest-serving player currently at Anfield, the 27-year-old has experience of several title races on Merseyside, and he knows that a lot can change during the winter months when the fixture schedule is so hectic.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live after Liverpool’s win yesterday, Gomez declared (via Liverpool Echo): “At the start of the season if you said we’d be in this position we would bite your hand off.
“It means nothing at this point. Come the end of the season if we are not lifting the trophy it will feel like we have squandered a big opportunity. The Premier League is so relentless and we have big games up.”
As Gomez says, we imagine that everyone associated with Liverpool would’ve gladly shaken on being nine points clear in early December if offered that proposition at the start of the season, especially when facing into a first campaign without Jurgen Klopp since 2014/15.
However, the defender is also right to remind teammates and fans that our current position will feel hollow if we don’t go on to lift the title in five months’ time. He was part of the Reds side which had a nine-point lead midway through 2018/19 and still came up one short of Man City in the final reckoning.
The squad have had virtually no time to revel in yesterday’s win, with thoughts immediately turning to facing Newcastle at St James’ Park on Wednesday night, the first part of a tricky away double header this week before Slot’s men then take on neighbours Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday lunchtime.
There are still four more Premier League games for us in December after that, so this month offers a chance to pull further clear of the chasing pack, who themselves will view the next 30 days as an opportunity to try and reel in the current leaders.
Gomez has been there and done it before. He knows that, while Liverpool might presently be the envy of every other side in the division, history will only recall who sits top of the table at the final whistle on the final day of the season.
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