Peter Crouch has claimed that Liverpool now carry an aura of inevitability about them when it comes to securing victory.
Since the Community Shield six weeks ago, the Reds have begun the season with five straight wins, all of which saw decisive goals being scored in the 83rd minute or later, with three of those coming in stoppage time.
The latest high-wire act was pulled off when, two minutes into added time, Virgil van Dijk headed the winner in a dramatic Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid.
Crouch praises ‘inevitable’ Liverpool
Speaking ahead of today’s Merseyside derby at Anfield (for which Arne Slot has made four changes in personnel), Crouch praised Liverpool for the ‘inevitable’ manner in which they consistently manage to conjure up last-gasp winning goals, albeit with a warning that it’d be difficult to sustain throughout the season.
The former Reds striker said on TNT Sports: “When you play against the great teams and fantastic teams with history, you feel almost like it’s inevitable that the pressure tells.
“Certainly in the early part of the season with the late goals, that consistent pressure, mental fatigue starts setting in [for opponents] and you get to a point of ‘Can we handle this? Can we physically get through this?’
“It’s not been the case for the other teams, but it’s something [Liverpool] will want to address. It’s something you can’t continue all season, but champions do find a way.”
Will there be yet more late drama at Anfield today?
When it comes to the Merseyside derby, the Reds have quite the back catalogue of stoppage time winners – think of Gary McAllister (2001), Dirk Kuyt (2007), Sadio Mane (2016) and Divock Origi (2018), as well as Van Dijk on his LFC debut against Everton in the FA Cup.
Given that track record and the extraordinary knack for headline-altering goals in the early weeks of this season, we shouldn’t really be surprised if the Premier League champions pull off another last-gasp job at Anfield today, although that won’t be in Slot’s plans before kick-off.
We’ll all be hoping that Liverpool can secure victory in a more straightforward and dominant fashion, akin to the 5-2 in the 2019/20 title triumph or a couple of 4-0s in the mid-2010s, although Kopites are unlikely to be too bothered so long as their team maintains their 100% record for the season so far.
Will there be late drama again this afternoon? If so, let’s hope it’s not a repeat of James Tarkowski’s sucker punch in the final Goodison Park derby a few months ago!