Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool have sprinted into contention in final straight of title race

Pep Guardiola seemed to be sounding unnecessarily cautious. Manchester City were 13 points ahead of Chelsea and 14 clear of Liverpool. The obituaries for the title race were being written. Guardiola thought they were premature. “In January, it is impossible it is over,” he said.

He may take little pleasure in being vindicated. Now City’s lead is down to one point. Liverpool have reeled off nine straight wins, taking eight more points than anyone else in a two-month period. They finished the 2018-19 season with nine consecutive victories. Doing so again will entail beating City at the Etihad Stadium. It would also make them champions.

Jurgen Klopp branded momentum “the most fragile flower in the world” but Liverpool have it. They have proved in the past they can sustain it, most notably on a sensational charge of 35 wins out of 36 between March 2019 and February 2020. It was historically brilliant.

On paper, a trip to Arsenal was the second hardest game in this season’s run-in. They prevailed 2-0. Klopp delighted afterwards in Liverpool’s 17th clean sheet of the Premier League campaign.

It was a seventh in nine games in a time when they have only been breached by Odsonne Edouard of Crystal Palace and Norwich winger Milot Rashica.

It is a spell when the often unheralded Joel Matip has been anointed the Premier League’s player of the month, when Virgil van Dijk has returned to his commanding best and when Alisson, as his save from Martin Odegaard demonstrated, has often been a spectator but has made vital interventions.

Andy Robertson kept Bukayo Saka unusually quiet on Wednesday while Trent Alexander-Arnold fought a brilliant duel with Gabriel Martinelli. Liverpool may yet regret the five times they lost leads to draw in