5th in PL 

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Liverpool succumbed to a drab 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, as their grasp on a top-five finish continues to loosen as we head towards the business end of the season. A last-minute equaliser from Spurs striker Richarlison now means that Arne Slot’s team have won just two of their last five games in all competitions. And, following the result, Liverpool now sit on just 49 points from 30 Premier League games – the club’s second-worst return in the last 10 seasons.

“I feel flat,” said Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai to Sky Sports after the match. “We have to wake up because if we carry on like this, we should be happy with the Conference League. I don’t know why this is happening, I honestly don’t know. In the last minute, again, I don’t know how many times this season already.” Sunday’s draw was the fifth time this season that Liverpool have let a lead slip, meaning Slot’s team have dropped 11 points from winning positions in this current league campaign. Had they won those 11 points, the Anfield club would be sitting relatively comfortably in third place, and Slot would be facing far less pressure as we head towards the end of the season.

Indeed, while much of this season’s failings can be put down to the club’s ambitious summer transfer window – when Liverpool spent €483 million on new players but, rather notably, sold key players like Luis Díaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold to fund the signings – there’s no doubt that Slot has struggled to contend with the fresh challenges that he’s faced this season. And while the Dutch tactician still has credit in the bank for winning the league title last season, there are growing concerns that Liverpool may now be going backwards and may be in need of a new manager on the sidelines who can offer some fresh solutions to lingering problems.

The numbers are getting starker by the week for Slot. Following Sunday’s draw, the 47-year-old manager now boasts a record of 1.96 points per game in the Premier League. That is a considerable drop off from Jürgen Klopp’s very impressive 2.11 points per game. That, to an extent, is to be expected. And to Slot’s credit, he remains far more successful than previous managers like Brendan Rodgers (1.80 ppg) and club legend Kenny Dalglish (1.52 ppg), but is now edging closer to Rafa Benítez’s record of 1.90 points per game – which is a concern, when we consider that the Spanish manager only managed to finish higher than third in one of his six seasons at the club.

For now, Slot maintains the support of the Anfield faithful. With Aston Villa tumbling down the table, the Premier League likely to have five spots in next season’s Champions League and few clubs below Liverpool in the table seemingly capable of maintaining the consistency to challenge for the top five, Slot and his side should be able to draw a line under a poor season with the consolation of Champions League qualification. But there are worrying storm clouds on the horizon. Slot’s points-per-game average for this season 26% less than last season’s. And unless that number can quickly bounce back towards his debut season’s 2.21 points per game, the Dutch manager may struggle to shake off concerns that he is little more than a one-season wonder.