A title surge or title slip? A nervous Anfield awaits

Behind Jordan Henderson, fixed to the wall leading to the dressing rooms at Anfield, is a quote from Jürgen Klopp. “This is a place for big football matches.”

Tomorrow’s encounter with Chelsea is a big football match. Domestically, it is Liverpool’s biggest of the season. Win and they have a chance of the longed-for league title. Lose and the long tussle with Manchester City is probably over.

Anfield has not staged a Premier League fixture of this magnitude since another game against Chelsea five Aprils ago. Then, as now, Liverpool were top of the league. Then, as now, Liverpool were at home to Chelsea, while Manchester City were at Crystal Palace. Then, as now, Manchester City had a game in hand.

It will be remembered for ‘The Slip’, as Steven Gerrard received what he would always call “a bog-standard square ball” from Mamadou Sakho, allowed it to run under his right boot and lost his balance. Demba Ba streaked away to score. The ultimate beneficiaries were Manchester City, who won the league by two points.

The man who could be counted among Liverpool’s greatest footballers sat in the back of his car beneath the Centenary Stand and cried. Unable to face the supporters who would always adore him, Gerrard flew to Monaco, a cold, soulless place where nobody would ask for an autograph or demand a selfie.

Henderson, suspended after a rash tackle in what seemed a decisive 3-2 win over Manchester City a fortnight before, watched from the Main Stand. “I am more nervous watching a game than I ever am on the pitch,” he said. “I was on edge all the time. The crowd was on edge, you could sense it from the start.

“That [losing to Chelsea] is another thing I have used to keep going this time, to channel my energy to keep winning games.

“This is a fantastic team but it is a big month and we need to keep performing and winning to get ourselves over the line.”

Brendan Rodgers is too often seen as a mere stepping stone to Klopp but he did produce a thrilling if brittle team.

“I still think we had that belief when we were going for the title in 2014. The biggest difference is the clean sheets and the defensive record,” said Henderson.

“That season we were conceding quite a few goals and, even though we were winning games, it would be 5-3 or 5-2 or something like that. We weren’t as strong as I would have liked us to have been.”

Henderson acknowledged that Liverpool is a less frenzied city now than it was in 2014.

The atmosphere around Anfield itself was frantic. The team coach would crawl towards the Shankly Gates hemmed in by flags, smoke from flares billowing around the wheels, cameras pressed up to the darkened windows.

Luis Suarez would recall how the atmosphere changed after the win over Manchester City. The players on the bus began filming the crowds. The Spanish-speaking contingent would talk openly of what it would be like when Liverpool won the title – although Suarez concedes the English players kept their thoughts to themselves.

Rodgers had contacted the players’ mothers and asked them to write a message about their sons. Before each game he would read one out.

It was a lovely touch but it contributed to the feeling that the season was a unique opportunity. Liverpool had finished seventh the previous season, they had no European football to distract them.

he chance might not come again, and for Rodgers it did not.

Liverpool reached the Champions League final and finished fourth last season. If they fail this time, Klopp versus Guardiola will still be the only game in town.

However, as the campaign climaxes, Liverpool’s smooth control has begun to fracture.

The results feel like they did in the spring of 2014; Liverpool driving forward, anxious for the early goal, leaving too much space at the back. Late, desperate goals to win against Tottenham and Southampton.

“If you take a 400m race, after 200m there are a few together,” said Klopp. “At 300m, two are together and in the last 100m you go with all you have. It is the last part of the season and you use all your body, each fibre.

“That’s why I said it was so special against Tottenham. Four years ago, we were 2-1 down to West Brom and then lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace and 15,000 left the stadium to beat the traffic. That’s when I said I felt alone.

“Tottenham was the absolute opposite. No one would have thought: ‘They have bottled it again; it has slipped through their fingers.’ Instead, they thought: ‘We have to stand up and go for it’.”