REIGN IS FORECAST

Relentless Reds put themselves in brilliant position to snatch City crown

- JOHN CROSS

THE noise was overwhelming at the final whistle.

Liverpool's jubilant fans stood to salute their heroes after a remarkable, thumping and defining victory. They had surely witnessed the coronation of the new champions.

Arne Slot's men are nine points clear at the top and, perhaps even more significantly, they are 11 ahead of City.

Delighted defender Virgil van Dijk said: "I think City is a fantastic team. Four-time champions in a row. They have the quality to punish any team.

"But I think we were solid defensively and had great chances. We could have scored more. Good game. We won. And we move on. We focus on the next game. That's the only thing we can do. There's no point at this stage of the season to get ahead of ourselves.

"Of course everybody wants to be in a position where they are 11 points ahead of their opponents. But there's so many twists and turns. We have injuries to our team unfortunately and we have to deal with that."

There can be no way back from here for City. And it would take an almighty collapse - and a three-game swing - on Liverpool's part to blow it from here.