For the first time in Jurgen Klopp’s tenure, Liverpool are going through something of a crisis with their recent run of form.
They’ve won the Premier League, the Champions League and have been ridiculously consistent while doing it over the last two seasons.
And that’s why their recent run of just one win in five is seen as a crisis for the Anfield club.
That run includes draws against West Brom, Newcastle and Manchester United as well as a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Southampton.
A 4-1 win away at Aston Villa looks good on paper, but it was in the FA Cup and saw Klopp’s top side go up against a Villa team massacred by COVID-19.
Embed from Getty ImagesDean Smith wasn’t able to be in the Villa dugout for the game and all of his first team squad missed out too, forcing Mark Delaney and his Under-23 players to fulfil the fixture.
Villa is a team Liverpool would expect to beat – particularly when it’s the Villa Under 23 team put up as opposition.
So it’s not a run that reflects well on the current situation at Anfield.
Klopp has had to deal with numerous injuries in an already disrupted season.
Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez have been the most significant absentees – all currently unavailable with no sign of returning any time soon.
And that’s a serious issue with Jordan Henderson and Fabinho having to fill in at centre back.
Perhaps Liverpool will see the lack of a clear runaway leader at the top of the Premier League as a positive while they struggle for form.
They sit just six points off leaders Manchester United with a game in hand – and only four points off second and third-placed Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.
Embed from Getty ImagesSo if Liverpool can find some form soon, they don’t have to recover too much of a gap to their title challengers.
For Klopp, his team and the Anfield faithful, they simply need to start winning and that starts with Burnley tonight.
Sean Dyche’s team sit fourth bottom of the Premier League and haven’t beaten Liverpool since August of 2016 – and you can visit this page to see odds on the game.
This is a winnable game when you look at it solely – but it’s even more important considering Liverpool’s form and the run of the games they face afterwards.
Once Burnley are out of the way, they play Manchester United, Tottenham and West Ham away from home.
If they have any aspirations of retaining their title, Liverpool must get back to winning ways and beating Burnley will definitely help going into a tough run of form.
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