Arsenal have already gone. The title race, for Liverpool, is a closed chapter. What's left is the fight for second — and the quiet, ongoing question of what Mohamed Salah's future actually looks like. Arne Slot has chosen today to rest him.
Slot names Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai in the starting eleven, with Salah conspicuously absent from the XI. The club line is rotation. The background noise is a contract negotiation that has been rumbling long enough to have its own Wikipedia entry. Whether those two things are connected, Slot isn't saying — and he doesn't need to. The selection speaks at a reasonable volume on its own.
The objective here is straightforward: stay ahead of Manchester City, lock down second, and head into the final stretch of the season with something to show for it. Liverpool can't catch Arsenal on points. They can still finish the campaign with their dignity, their runner-up spot, and — ideally — some clarity on their best player's future.
Two wins from their last eleven. That is Chelsea's recent form, and it is the kind of statistic that makes a trip to Anfield feel less like a fixture and more like a formality. Enzo Maresca's side have the squad depth and the ambition, but right now they have neither the consistency nor the momentum to trouble a Liverpool team playing in front of their own crowd with something to prove.
Anfield on a day like this — second place dangling, Salah watching from somewhere — has a particular edge to it. The crowd doesn't need much encouragement.
Gakpo has been Liverpool's quietly reliable presence in a season that has occasionally asked too much of too few. Szoboszlai, when he's at it, gives Liverpool a different gear in midfield — box-to-box, relentless, the kind of player who makes the opposition's shape look slightly wrong. Both have points to make today, not least because Salah's absence puts the creative burden squarely on their shoulders.
Slot has built Liverpool into a side that doesn't collapse when its best player sits out. Today is another chance to prove that. Chelsea, with two wins in eleven, are not exactly arriving as a stern examination — but football has a habit of embarrassing that kind of logic the moment you say it out loud.
Arsenal have already gone. The title race, for Liverpool, is a closed chapter. What's left is the fight for second — and the quiet, ongoing question of what Mohamed Salah's future actually looks like.
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“Stays on Liverpool — different angle, same beat.”
Unai Emery does not do diplomatic silence. The Aston Villa manager has publicly described Harvey Elliott's loan spell at Villa Park as 'embarrassing' — four Premier League appearances, no involvement
“Stays on Liverpool — different angle, same beat.”
Unai Emery does not do diplomatic silence. The Aston Villa manager has publicly described Harvey Elliott's loan spell at Villa Park as 'embarrassing' — four Premier League appearances, no involvement
