What was a near-impossible 1500/1 a few months ago is suddenly a much-more-possible 66/1 as Liverpool’s quadruple odds were slashed following their EFL Cup win over Chelsea.
Liverpool landed their first domestic cup since 2012 with a nail-biting penalty shootout victory over Chelsea and Jurgen Klopp’s Reds are now 66/1 to add the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League trophies to that success during 2021/22.
Clearly there’s still a long way to go but the hundreds of customers with 1500/1 and 1000/1 vouchers on Liverpool landing the quadruple will have taken pleasure in ticking the EFL Cup off on Sunday night.
At 1/50 to see off Inter, as well as a home FA Cup tie against Norwich, the Anfield side look ideally-placed to go deep in two more competitions, while the January addition of Luis Diaz could be a masterstroke as Klopp continues to hunt down Pep Guardiola in the Premier League title race.
Klopp’s relationship with domestic cups has been well known since his arrival in England, frequently fielding second-string sides, even fielding an ineligible player against MK Dons in 2019.
It just so happened this season, their second string was good enough to take them to the semi-finals, where Klopp presumably considered the competition worth taking seriously, overcoming Arsenal with a second-leg 2-0 win.
The penalty shootout win over Chelsea suddenly opened up the possibility for an unprecedented quadruple.
It’s a long, long way off of course, and Klopp will shut down any talk of it immediately should the notion be put to him. There of course is every chance they finish with just the one trophy priced at 10/11.
They 11/8 to add just one more, and 5/1 for a treble.
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Despite closing the gap on Manchester City in the league, they’re still six points behind (with a game in hand) and 11/4 for a second Premier League crown. They’re 7/2 second favourites for the FA Cup behind Manchester City, and 7/2 second favourites for the Champions League behind… you guessed it.
However with no Arsenal or Manchester United left in the competition, and a home tie with Norwich next up, Liverpool will expect to make the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, even if Klopp does rotate as expected. From there, who knows how the draw will play out? There’s no reason to think Liverpool can’t go the distance.
The Champions League looks equally promising. One of Real Madrid or PSG will exit, as well as one of Manchester United or Atletico. Of course, two of those sides will remain, as you’d expect will the likes of Bayern Munich, Juventus, Chelsea and Manchester City, but the Reds won’t fear anyone in the competition.
Though the Premier League may seem the biggest hurdle, it’s the shortest price for Liverpool, with only one opponent to overcome, and there have been recent chinks in City’s armour.
Such is the optimism amongst Liverpool fans at the moment, they’re viewing their April trip to the Etihad as a positive rather than a negative. Should they win their game in hand they’ll be back within three points of City, with a superior goal difference and with the trip to the Etihad, the title is back in their hands.
They’ve actually slipped slightly under the radar, with City so rampant and the Reds faltering badly around Christmas. After three draws in their opening seven, they were already playing catch-up, even more so with 22 points from 11 games. Such as the standard set between them and City in recent years, two points a game isn’t enough to sustain a title challenge, but six straight wins put them back in the picture.
Just two points from their trips to Tottenham, Leicester and Chelsea and it looked like City were home and hosed.
But another run of six straight wins has put the pressure back on Guardiola’s men, who may just be feeling it.
A draw against Southampton could be written off as a blip, but the loss to Tottenham will have hurt. They were fortunate to escape Goodison Park with all three points on Sunday, and their self-belief may just be wavering slightly.
But the belief will be strong on Merseyside that they can push City all the way, and not just for the Premier League.
By Steve Freeth
