As Virgil Van Dijk quite rightly expressed following his side’s saucy defeat of Arsenal at Anfield this weekend, it is a great time to be a Liverpool fan.
Coach Jurgen Klopp has launched his side into their most successful start to a Premier League campaign. The stats speak for themselves; 17 wins, 54 points, 48 goals for the campaign (two more than last season), and just eight put past them, for a league high of 12 clean sheets.
A little over three years ago it was a completely different story, with Liverpool in a rut having sacked Brendan Rodgers as manager after three and half years in charge, sparking a flurry of names to be linked with a move to take over in Merseyside.
The Northern Irishman himself had mounted a remarkable title push in 2013/14 before slipping up at the final hurdle to gift the Premier League to Manchester City.
A sixth place follow-up in 14/15 and some incredibly poor acquisitions later, Rodgers was out on his behind in October 2015, having led Liverpool to just four wins of their opening 11 games in all competitions at the start of the 2015/16 season. A draw in the Merseyside Derby was the final nail.
During an autopsy on SkySports at the time, a panel consisting of Thierry Henry and club legends Graeme Souness and Jamie Carragher lamented on the direction the club had taken, coming a little over a year since Liverpool looked to be marauding their way to the title, as well as speculating as to who would to be the next manager
Klopp - having recently ended his tenure at Borussia Dortmund - was favourite, with three-time Champions League winner and Liverpool's 2007 vanquisher Carlo Ancelotti slightly behind;
“Either of those coming to Liverpool, the Liverpool fans would be ecstatic...
“If it was me, I would go for Klopp ahead of Ancelotti. I think he’s got more to prove.
“Liverpool’s not an easy job now… it’s a difficult job now at Liverpool getting back into the top four; forget about the title.”
It seemed Carragher was both right and wrong.
Quite correctly, Klopp has turned out to be a fine managerial appointment, boosting the Reds back up into the elite European competition, and perpetually leaving Liverpool fans in the same constant ecstasy as he seems to be on the touchline, and though silverware hasn’t yet been forthcoming, the title is now most definitely firmly in mind.
Nine points ahead of any other side at the top of the table - undefeated - the three-decade long wait for the title to arrive back at Anfield may be agonizingly close to being ended.
Not only is Premier League success within sight, Liverpool are also through to the knock-out stages of the Champions League hoping to surpass last year’s final.
The Liverpool fans are most certainly ecstatic.
You can watch the footage of Carragher talking about his anticipation of Klopp’s arrival below.
