The best of Liverpool’s title winning season: Best player, best moment, best decision
CHAMPIONS: Liverpool fans celebrate` victory and the Premier League title. Pic: Peter Byrne/PA Wire.
Liverpool’s 20th league title was one of their most convincing and consistent – quite remarkable when you consider it was Arne Slot’s first campaign in charge and his first taste of Premier League football.
He, undoubtedly, was himself one of the biggest stories of the season. But there were other heroes and other moments that helped bring the famous trophy back to Anfield.
It was a campaign in which they suffered only one defeat in their first 30 games of the season and clinched top spot on Sunday having lost just twice – to Nottingham Forest and Fulham - in a remarkable season.
Here we present the ‘best’ moments and players of what was only Liverpool’s second Premier League title winning campaign.
This has to be the easiest award to hand out when you consider Salah has scored 27 goals in the Premier League so far with four games to go and will almost certainly end it with a Golden Boot.
The fact that he is also way clear at the top of the assists table, with 18, sums up his influence on Liverpool’s season and why the club was so desperate to agree a contract extension, even at the age of 32.
In many ways this has been Salah’s best ever season for Liverpool given the way he has dominated the statistics and provided the magic required to overcome even the toughest of opponents.
There has been a slight dip in recent form but when you look across the entire campaign it has been one of his most consistent and productive.
The captain has been immense, returning to his imperious best and then taking it to an even higher level.
In fact, you could make a strong case for Virgil van Dijk being player of the season – and only the sheer weight of Salah’s goals and assists saw him miss out.
As a leader and on-pitch figurehead, Van Dijk has epitomised this new style of Liverpool side. Calm, calculated, able to adapt and always determined to win.
He has been the perfect foil for new manager Arne Slot, who deserves credit for bringing the very best out his Dutch maestro.
Best decision: The appointment of Arne Slot
It’s not often you see any award won by a club board, especially not in these days of perceived commercial greed and protests from fans about their treatment. Even Manchester City, the most successful club of the decade after heavy investment, are facing that.
Liverpool fans are not shy of showing how they feel when their club makes mistakes either, and the current owners are not immune to criticism. But what a decision they made in appointing Slot as Jurgen Klopp’s successor, It simply could not have gone better (unless you are really greedy and expected a Champions League title in the first year, too).
Slot’s calm, thoughtful and personable approach has been remarkable. He’s tweaked the stye without upsetting the apple card, succeeding in building a team (without investment) into one that can coolly switch between Klopp’s heavy metal and Slot’s sweet melodies whenever they want.
This was a trademark left-foot curler from Salah but, crucially, it was also a winning goal in a match at Anfield that Liverpool were losing 1-0 before they i incredibly turned it around in three crazy minutes.
Salah’s winner came at the end of a stunning team move, which featured a powerful run from Curtis Jones all the way from defence to attack.
But the finale was all Egyptian. Salah cut in from the right-hand side of the pitch, effortlessly stepping past his marker – and then looked up to place a perfect curling shot into the left-hand top corner of Brighton’s net.
The effort was beautifully caressed, hitting the net with just the perfect ripple. A real Salah stunner – and one that was crucial in the title race, too.
The Dutchman’s towering header from an 89th minute corner was a big, big moment in Liverpool’s season. In fact, Arne Slot himself hailed it as his favourite.
Liverpool weren’t at their best against the Hammers and despite going 1-0 up through Luis Diaz, gifted West Ham a deserved equaliser when van Dijk’s mistake led to an Andy Robertson own goal.
It seemed like points would be dropped – but then the Dutch maestro thundered home a header to win it – with Liverpool roared to victory by a raucous Kop. That sense of unity. Leadership and determination to win has been crucial across the campaign.
When asked by Liverpool’s website team for his moment of the season, Slot was clear.
He said: “I think the moment after conceding the 1-1 against West Ham where everybody probably felt, ‘Ooh, this is going to be difficult…’ Then the team stepped up, the fans stepped up for two minutes and they were just flying at that moment.
“The emotions that ran through him, through the stadium, through the staff, through everyone, that was a beautiful moment.
This guy deserves a mention. Before the season began, Liverpool were desperately trying to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, with pundits all suggesting their midfield needing bolstering to have any chance of mounting a title challenge.
The move fell through and Gravenberch toko his chance. He has been simply outstanding all season in the number 6 role left vacant since the departure of Fabinho, grabbing his opportunity with both hands.
Any doubts over his stamina are way gone – he’s likely to finish the season having completed over 4000 minutes.
Best win: The 2-0 double over Manchester City in December 2024 and February 2025
There have been plenty of outstanding games this season for Liverpool but the two that really underlined their dominance were home and away victories over Manchester City.
Slot’s side cruised through both fixtures against the champions, underlining just how far the title pendulum had swung. It was 2-0 at Anfield (and could have been many more) with Cody Gakpo scoring a wonderful opener before Salah added a penalty. Chants of ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ from the Kop amused Pep Guardiola.
But there wasn’t much for him to laugh about at the Etihad when Liverpool completed a double by winning by the same score – Salah scoring one and setting the other superbly for Dominik Szoboszlai.
It put them 11 points clear an on the way to the title.
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