Why the Reds' win could spark an era of openness

By winning the Premier League title this season, Liverpool has done what no other top-flight English team has managed since 2017.

That is to be a surprise champion.

"What we do know is that no one saw us as a title contender when we started at the beginning of the season," Liverpool coach Arne Slot said in February.

Not since Antonio Conte's debut year at Chelsea has the Premier League been won by an outsider.

Not that Liverpool's title triumph is anything like the historic upset achieved by Leicester in 2016. But, priced at 13/2 by some bookmakers at the start of the campaign, and having to navigate the departure of iconic manager Jurgen Klopp last season, this wasn't supposed to be Liverpool's year.

"The main aim in what they told me is look at the players, give your opinion about it so we can go into this project in the second and the third year," Slot said recently.

Instead, under the Dutchman's guidance, the Merseyside club has clinched a record-equaling 20th English league title ahead of schedule and potentially kicked off a new era in the Premier League where, for the first time in a long time, the race for future titles feels wide open.

Manchester City's dominance of the previous seven seasons under Pep Guardiola has been halted. And, unlike after Liverpool's title success of 2020, City does not look so certain to return to the top of the standings next year, with Guardiola's squad being overhauled.

Liverpool has capitalized on City's sudden and unexpected fall in a manner none of its rivals could. Whereas back-to-back runner-up Arsenal looked best-placed to dethrone the four-time defending champion, the London club is, instead, on course to finish second for the third year in a row after an injury-hampered and inconsistent season.

Slot inherited a squad that had been rebuilt by Klopp and honed it into a serious title contender — spearheaded by Mohamed Salah's age-defying form, while players like Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch have been the heartbeat of midfield. Slot has been a steadying hand, and his patient approach has paid off while City, in particular, and Arsenal have faltered.

Yet — Liverpool's 15-point lead at the top notwithstanding — it is not immediately evident that this represents the start of a period of dominance for Slot's team.

Slot has joined a select group of managers by winning the title in his first year in the Premier League — following Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Manuel Pellegrini and Antonio Conte. Of those, only Mourinho successfully defended the title.

Since 2009, only Guardiola's City — champion in six out of seven seasons between 2018 and 2024 — has managed to retain the title.

With the backing of City's Abu Dhabi owners, Guardiola may build another great team, but he has a big job on his hands to replace Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, while Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan are both in the latter stages of their careers. Will Rodri be the same player when he returns from ACL damage? And as lethal as Erling Haaland has been, City's attacking play has become much more predictable with the Norwegian goal machine at the point of attack.

Liverpool is also expected to spend big in the offseason, having only signed Federico Chiesa since Slot took charge. Salah and Virgil van Dijk have ended the monthslong uncertainty over their futures by signing contract extensions, but by the start of next season they will be 33 and 34 respectively, placing an element of doubt about their ability to maintain their standards.

Can Liverpool find another goal scorer to take the burden off Salah in the manner of his former strike partner Sadio Mane? And how much of a void would Trent Alexander-Arnold leave if, as widely reported, he is due to join Real Madrid?

What of Arsenal? While on course to be back-to-back-to-back runner-up, it is into the semifinals of the Champions League, having overwhelmed holder Madrid.

Mikel Arteta has assembled a squad that has been in title contention for three years in a row, and may still be yet to reach its peak. The long-awaited addition of an elite goal scorer could be the final ingredient required to get it over the line.

Newcastle and Aston Villa are building impressive squads, and the next step is to make a serious push for the title, while Chelsea has also improved.

For now, though, Liverpool is top of the tree again, matching a record held by its fierce rival Manchester United. The future, however, feels wide open.

Agencies via Xinhua