Peter O'Rourke analyses the successful season to date of Liverpool in the first half of the 2008/09 campaign.
Peter O'Rourke analyses the successful season to date of Liverpool in the first half of the 2008/09 campaign.
It is very much a case of so far so good for Liverpool as they go into the New Year at the summit of the Premier League.
At the halfway stage of the Premier League marathon Liverpool lead the way by three points as they aim to finally end their long wait for the championship.
The pressure was on Rafa Benitez and his players this season for Liverpool to mount a serious challenge for the title with arch-rivals Manchester United closing on their record of 18 league championships.
So far Liverpool have risen to the challenge and sit proudly at the top of the tree going into 2009 with expectations rising that this could be the season for all Reds fans to see the club end their search for the holy grail.
Liverpool have enjoyed their best ever start to a Premier League campaign under Benitez with the Spaniard now having a squad capable of challenging for the top honour in English football.
This time last season Liverpool were 10 points off the leaders turning into the New Year, but now it is the men from Merseyside setting the pace and challenging the others to keep up the chase.
Pace-setters
It is a different scenario for Liverpool with in seasons gone by they have been out of the title race by Christmas, but this season they have put themselves in pole position to be fighting for the championship come May.
Liverpool have shown the battling spirit that makes champions with a number of thrilling fight-backs so far this season which was illustrated in victories over Middlesbrough, Manchester United, Wigan and Manchester City to gain important points from games that could have gone against them.
A contributing factor to Liverpool's lead at the top is the improvement in their head-to-head record in the clashes against the rest of the so-called 'big four'.
Prior to this season Benitez had a terrible record in the games against Liverpool's main title rivals, but that has been turned on its head this year with wins over Manchester United and Chelsea and a draw against Arsenal.
Those performances and victories have given the entire squad confidence and belief that they can challenge the rest of the Premier League's top three for the championship.
Encouraging news for Liverpool fans is the fact that The Reds have done all this without star striker Fernando Torres for much of the first half of the campaign.
Last season's top scorer has only made nine appearances in the league as a result of a niggling hamstring problem and Benitez will be hoping his fellow Spaniard will return for the second half season in tip-top form to help fire Liverpool to success.
Robbie Keane is also starting to show signs of the form that prompted Liverpool to lay out £20million for the former Tottenham ace in the summer and if the Irishman can click with Torres in the second half of the campaign Liverpool could make it hard for their rivals to catch them.
Fortress
Anfield has been a fortress for Liverpool with the Reds going through 2008 unbeaten on their own patch.
However, it could also be viewed as what could have been for Benitez's side in the first half of the campaign as they could have given themselves a healthy cushion at the top if they had not squandered crucial points at home against sides they would have expected to beat.
The Reds have let eight points slip through their fingers after being held to draws against Stoke, Fulham, West Ham and Hull at home to raise question marks over their title credentials.
Liverpool need to turn those draws into wins and maintain their fine form on the road if they are to be celebrating a title success come the end of the season.
Key to Liverpool's hopes will be keeping Steven Gerrard fit with the midfielder again being the side's star performer so far this season.
Gerrard has described the current squad as the best he has played with and Benitez has a wealth of talent to call upon with the likes of Keane and Ryan Babel struggling to hold down a place in the starting Xi this term.
Benitez has admitted Liverpool will have an "80 percent" chance to win the title if they remained at the top after Christmas and the Spaniard will be hoping to make up the other 20 percent in the next five months to finally fulfil the club's championship dreams.
