The Run-in: Premier League

When can Liverpool win the title?: Arsenal’s victory on Sunday over Chelsea reduced Liverpool’s lead to 12 points with nine games each left to play.

It means that Liverpool need a minimum of five more wins to make sure of their first title since 2020 but that is only if Arsenal stay on a winning track. Any slip up from Mikel Arteta’s men will make Liverpool’s task easier.

The earliest scenario of a Liverpool title is as follows: Their next league game is on April 2 when they face Everton at Anfield. If they win the Merseyside derby and then take another three points next away to Fulham, they could win the title on April 12 — the day before they play West Ham United at Anfield — if Arsenal were to lose all four of their upcoming fixtures and the teams behind them, including Nottingham Forest and Manchester City, slip up too.

Closest challengers: Arsenal need to keep a razor sharp focus on the Premier League title if they are to stand any chance of overhauling Liverpool but, unlike the Reds, they now have the very real, and possibly welcomed, distraction of the Champions League.

Arsenal are in the quarterfinals against Real Madrid and will know they have every chance of winning a trophy that has long eluded them. But battling away on two fronts might prove too tough for the Gunners, especially given they have struggled with a major injury crisis and do not have any recognised strikers to bank on.

Liverpool’s history: It took an astonishing 30 years and 58 days between Liverpool’s 18th title in 1990 and the 19th championship that Jurgen Klopp brought them in 2000. No wonder when the German departed Anfield at the end of last season, he was hailed as one of the club legends.

They won the Covid title in emphatic fashion by 18 points from Manchester City and clinch the title with seven games to spare, which was new Premier League record. They amassed 99 points, one less than the record of 100 set by City in 2018, but equalled the record for the most victories in a Premier League season (32).

Title-winning scenarios: The Premier League title race looks a procession for Liverpool given their a comfortable lead and hopes that there could be a title decider when the two sides play each other at the start of May does not feasible. Instead, unless Liverpool collapse dramatically, they are more likely to get a guard of honour from their title challengers.

Past collapses: Two seasons ago, Arsenal had an eight-point lead over rivals Manchester City with six weeks left of the 2022-23 season but they capitulated in the closing weeks. With six matches remaining in the 2011-12 season, Manchester City found themselves eight points behind neighbours Manchester United.

However, City won all of their last six matches - including a 1-0 win against United - to win the league on goal difference. Two minutes into injury time in their final match of the season, losing 2-1 at home to QPR and with United beating Sunderland, City's Edin Dzeko scored a 92nd-minute equaliser before Sergio Aguero's famous winner in the fourth minute of added time turned Manchester sky blue.