Four key games that helped Liverpool land the Premier League title
Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates with Cody Gakpo after scoring his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on October 27, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Liverpool have won a 20th English top-flight title.
12 points clear of Arsenal heading into their game against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, the Reds only needed only to avoid defeat in their final five games of the season to be crowned Premier League champions, an impressive feat in Arne Slot’s debut campaign at the Anfield helm.
Here, we run through four key matches under his stewardship that helped shape their season.
After back-to-back wins over Ipswich and Brentford to kick off the Premier League season, Arne Slot took his Liverpool side to rivals Manchester United in the final game before the September international break.
While United were struggling under Erik ten Hag, they’d claimed impressive results in both meetings with the Reds at Old Trafford the previous campaign, first dumping then-Jurgen Klopp’s side out of the FA Cup in an entertaining 4-3 triumph before playing out a 2-2 draw.
Liverpool, though, pulled no punches in easing to a 3-0 win as a Luis Diaz brace and a second half Mohamed Salah strike confirmed the victory for the Merseyside giants. While they were helped by Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo errors, the result reinforced Liverpool’s credentials as one of the early title contenders.
Having lost their second home league game of the season, falling to surprise high-flyers Nottingham Forest in the first match back following the international break, Liverpool’s first big test of the campaign came at the end of October as they travelled to the Emirates to face title rivals Arsenal.
They had made a fine start to life under Slot, but their record would be put to the test in north London.
Worse still, they faced the Gunners with number one Alisson sidelined, and Arsenal sought to take advantage as Bukayo Saka got the better of stand in Caoimhin Kelleher early on.
Liverpool showed great resolve, however, twice coming from behind to rescue as a result as Virgil van Dijk’s first half header cancelled out Saka’s opener before Mohamed Salah drew the Merseyside giants level again late on following Mikel Merino’s header of his own on the stroke of half time.
After a nigh-on imperious started to their title defence, Manchester City made the trip to Anfield at the start of December on a three-game losing streak.
The Cityzens looked far from their best in their Premier League pursuit and having made the trip to Liverpool on the back of defeats to Bournemouth, Brighton and Tottenham, Pep Guardiola took his men to Merseyside at the worst possible time.
Cody Gakpo put the Reds ahead the 12th minute before Mohamed Salah – yes, him again – added his first and Liverpool’s second from the spot 12 minutes from time. In truth, though, the scoreline should have been higher. City had the greater share of possession, but Liverpool outshot their opponents 18 to eight, seven of which were on target.
It was the first real indication that a changing of the guard was afoot.
If there was one game that showcased Liverpool’s unwavering desire to continue pushing no matter how late, it was the 2-0 win at Brentford in January. There had been signs of weakness heading into the game in west London as Liverpool opened up 2025 with back-to-back draws against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest ahead of their trip to the capital.
And they seemed destined for a third successive stalemate as the minutes ticked towards the 90. Despite huffing and puffing, the Bees were proving resilient in their quest for a result. Few could have foreseen Darwin Nunez coming in clutch in the capital as the out-of-favour Uruguayan bagged a second-half injury time brace at Brentford in what proved a massive result for Liverpool.
Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool, February 23rd
Liverpool didn’t have a great record at the Etihad Stadium as they made the short trip to Manchester back in February, seeking a first league win at City since a 4-1 victory in 2015. And it seemed as though the Reds were going to be in for another long afternoon as Jeremy Doku constantly breezed past right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold in the opening 45 minutes.
Yet as the Belgian wing-wizard had the better of the Liverpool star, Slot’s side netted twice in the first half as Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah combined for both goals in a 2-0 win.
This was a game that City again dominated, yet Liverpool made their chances count and, as a result, opened up a 11-point lead at the top of the Premier League table.
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