A win away from the title, Liverpool coronation begins at Leicester

LEICESTER, England -- The Liverpool fans did not want to go home. Long after the final whistle had blown to signal their team's 1-0 victory over Leicester City on Sunday, supporters of Arne Slot's side stayed in their thousands to serenade the team that could, within a matter of days, be crowned Premier League champions.

It had not been the most convincing of performances from Liverpool, but those who had made the trip from Merseyside to the East Midlands did not care one bit.

And why should they? Having been denied the chance to celebrate the club's last title win in 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, Liverpool fans now seem determined to soak up every last second of this extraordinary season, with only one win now required to mathematically confirm the Reds' coronation.

Of course, publicly, Slot and his players will insist there is still work to be done. Leicester's battling display on Sunday -- on an afternoon when they were officially relegated to the Championship -- is proof enough of the levels required to win a Premier League game.

However, Liverpool are now undeniably on the cusp of something special, and the image of Mohamed Salah holding aloft one finger to the traveling supporters as he basked in their postmatch applause shows the players, too, know they are close to making history.

Hours before kickoff on Sunday, vendors selling scarves that read "Liverpool Champions 2024-25" lined the streets to the stadium. Arsenal's comfortable 4-0 win over Ipswich Town earlier in the day ensured Liverpool would not be able to seal the title against Leicester, but that didn't deter those in the away end from launching into of a fervent chorus of "We're gonna win the league" long before a ball was even kicked at the King Power Stadium.

The afternoon almost got off to a perfect start for Liverpool when Salah found some space inside the penalty area, only to see his curling strike rattle both posts before bouncing to safety. It was the first of several good chances for the visitors in the first half, with Leicester goalkeeper Mads Hermansen making a string of brilliant saves and Salah blazing one effort over the bar from close range after an inch-perfect cross from Kostas Tsimikas.

Leicester had their moments too, though, and were unlucky not to score when Wilfred Ndidi hit the post with a fine low drive from the edge of the area. And the sense that this might just not be Liverpool's day only continued to grow after the break, when Luis Díaz and substitute Diogo Jota both spurned good chances to give the visitors the lead, while Conor Coady's disallowed goal -- ruled out for an earlier foul by Patson Daka on Alisson Becker -- raised the decibel level inside the stadium.

However, one of Liverpool's most impressive traits this term has been the ability to find a way to win, and this time it fell to Trent Alexander-Arnold to deliver the decisive moment, rifling the ball home just five minutes after being introduced from the bench.

It has been a challenging few months for the defender, who has been sidelined since March with an ankle injury. His rehabilitation has been underscored by growing noise over his future, with sources having told ESPN that Real Madrid are "very confident" of signing the player on a free transfer when his Liverpool contract expires at the end of the season.

But, if this summer is to be the end of Alexander-Arnold's time at Anfield, then his match-winning turn against Leicester proved there are still a few more chapters left for him to write in his Liverpool story. Regardless of what he does this summer, the image of him tearing off his shirt and sliding across the turf in celebration will go down as one of the defining moments of this momentous campaign.

"The headline today should be the goal he scored and not about his contract, but it would be ridiculous if someone argues his commitment for this club," Slot said after the match. "The work rate he puts in, no one can argue his commitment to this club, but the headlines should be his great goal and not his contract."

From a Liverpool perspective, the headline is now that this team is just three points away from writing their names into the record books. Assuming Arsenal avoid defeat against Crystal Palace in midweek, the visit of Tottenham Hotspur to Anfield next Sunday will provide Slot's side with the chance to secure the club's 20th league title.

"The only thing the fans want is us winning the game," Slot said. "After one league title in 35 years with them not being involved because of Covid, every moment that it happens it would be special for them."

Certainly, for the Liverpool fans in attendance on Sunday, the celebrations have already started. This time next week, Slot and his players might just have joined the party.