The 23 game stat that should calm title nerves

Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 4-3 on Saturday and marched past the 60 point barrier in the Premier League.

And that should give Reds some comfort, because the previous two sides to reach that number after 23 games went on to win the league.

Chelsea did it in 2005 under Jose Mourinho, before Manchester City matched them in 2017. Now, Jurgen Klopp’s outfit is sitting at the top of the league and ahead of City by four points – and the omens are good.

That news may bring some crumbs of comfort to Liverpool fans who are going to have their nerves shredded for the next 15 matches.

Four points isn’t a large total, and while the Cityzens have already slipped up a couple of times this season, it’s unlikely that they’ll lose many more games.

Liverpool are out of both domestic cups, which’ll ease the workload on a squad that’s heavily reliant on a few core players. But the Reds are still chasing Champions League glory and that’ll also take a toll on the side.

With Leicester, West Ham and Bournemouth coming up before the first leg clash against Bayern Munich, Klopp will have to think carefully about the sides he puts out.

The Reds will need their best players fresh and ready to put in a massive performance against Bayern, who are a quality side despite their struggles in the Bundesliga.

But at the same time, nothing short of maximum points against those three middling teams will be enough in this tight title race.

Thankfully Joel Matip was back in the starting line up as the defensive crisis eased slightly and there appear to be no new injury concerns for Liverpool.

The rest of this season is going to have hearts thumping in chests, but hopefully that one stat can calm the nerves a little bit.