Heading into the 2025-26 Premier League season, most punters stuck their money on Liverpool to win yet another league title.
The club, of course, had just won the league last season and splashed a record-breaking £446.5m during the summer.
And so when they got off to a flying start a couple of months ago, all signs pointed to what looked like another storming season for Slot’s men.
But a first loss of the campaign against Crystal Palace at the end of September has started a concerning run of form, with the Reds currently on a three game losing streak.
The Palace result was followed up with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League and then a 2-1 loss to Chelsea in the league just days later, signalling that Slot’s side, perhaps, isn’t as indestructible as people thought.
It’s blown the Premier League title race wide open, and Slot won’t be happy about it.
Three Losses on the Bounce See Liverpool’s Title Odds Drop
With Liverpool looking shaky in mid-October, the club’s Premier League title odds have dropped to 11/4, with Arsenal being crowned the new favourites at 10/11.
There are now many ai betting tools out predicting an Arsenal title win based on Liverpool’s recent poor results, so the number of bets on Arsenal to win the league will likely skyrocket over the coming weeks.
Is it a surprise? Not particularly, as Arsenal have looked strong so far and the only points they’ve dropped came from a 1-1 draw against Man City at the Emirates.
There’s a case to be made that the Gunners’ new signings have settled much faster than Liverpool’s, too, which is yet another concern for new boss Arne Slot.
Record-breaking signing Florian Wirtz, who appears to be weighed down by his hefty £116 million transfer fee, is struggling the most.
If Arsenal suddenly decide to kick on from here, a points gap could start to open if Liverpool don’t pick up results, so the coming weeks could be season-defining for both clubs.
It mustn’t be forgotten, though, that Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side has now gone 5 seasons in a row without a major trophy, struggling to get over the line in title races against Pep’s City while also failing to put up a fight against Liverpool’s title charge last season.
This could, indeed, be Mikel Arteta’s season, and it would finally put an end to his personal trophy drought as well as the club’s 22-year search for a Premier League trophy (you have to go back as far as the 2004 Invincibles to find the last time Arsenal lifted the trophy).
But at the same time, we know that Arsenal are also capable of collapsing, which is why Arteta will be looking to grow that points gap while Liverpool are currently in a slump.
Slot “Not Completely Happy” with Chelsea Performance
In the post-match interview following the Chelsea game, Arne Slot lamented his side’s performance:
“I wasn’t completely happy with our performance. You expect us to do more than that and I think in the end, the last 10 or 15 minutes could have gone either way.”
Liverpool’s last-minute slip ups are turning into something of a trend now, with Slot’s men continuously conceding in the final minutes of games. Many thought that Slot would attempt to stop this in the Chelsea game by shoring up the defence, but he instead opted to push for a winner and it once again cost the Reds.
The attention will now turn to Liverpool’s next run of games now that the international break has ended, and Slot will no doubt be desperate to avoid the same mistakes from both the Crystal Palace and Chelsea games.
Liverpool’s Problems Run Deep
It might only be a three match losing streak, but Liverpool are in a mini crisis here.
Despite winning an excellent Premier League title last season, one that not even the most ambitious of Liverpool supporters could have seen coming, the club itself still has plenty of problems to deal with.
They’ve yet to properly break in their new signings.
The Van Dijk and Konate partnership is starting to look shaky, with the backline currently shipping goals for fun (this was very much the case last season as well, but Liverpool were at least able to counteract it by outscoring everyone).
Not to mention, Liverpool’s midfield is getting passed through far too easily, which was more obvious than ever in their recent Champions League tie against Galatasaray, where Yunus Akgün was running the show against them.
And, even though most Liverpool supporters will be hesitant to admit it, Mohamed Salah is looking a shadow of his former self and age is finally catching up to him.
Alexander Isak, who finally got his dream move to Liverpool on deadline day as part of a £125m deal, might not be getting the mountain of trophies that he thought he was signing up for either, at least not if Slot is unable to address these problems head on over the coming months.
If this is more than just a blip, Slot might also regret failing to sign Marc Guéhi from Crystal Palace in the summer, as having the 25-year-old in place of Konate would almost certainly have prevented some of Liverpool’s recent results.
Speaking of regrets, it now seems as though selling Luis Díaz was also a mistake, as Liverpool, who many will claim still got the most they could out of the winger, could do with him in the attacking line at the moment.
Who Else is Challenging for the League?
There’s nothing to say that Slot won’t turn this around and successfully win back-to-back league titles. After all, there’s a long season ahead.
A lot of it will come down to how the teams around the Reds perform, with Arsenal currently looking like the serious title contenders outside of Anfield.
Arsenal sit top of the league and Mikel Arteta’s 25-man squad is arguably the best in the whole league, so you would expect the Gunners to push hard and end the club’s five-year trophy drought this season.
Then there’s Manchester City, who just can’t seem to recapture their form of old, despite splashing plenty of cash over the past couple of transfer windows (for now, at least, Pep appears to have lost his mojo).
Spurs, Crystal Palace, and Chelsea are all outsiders and the odds of them mounting serious title challenges aren’t great, but all three clubs will absolutely be in contention for Champions League qualification come the end of the season.
On paper, all signs point to a two-horse race between Slot and Arteta for the title. It’ll be a repeat of last season, only this time Arsenal will actually have a chance of getting their hands on the trophy.
