As of Sunday morning, Manchester City are on course to win the Premier League title for the fourth time in five seasons this afternoon. So why are you nervous?
The task is simple. Beat 14th-placed Aston Villa at home and the title is theirs. It doesn't matter if Liverpool stick 10 past Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Reds' fate rests in the hands of their rivals from the Etihad. And yet despite this seemingly inevitable outcome, there is something in the air that supporters and even Jurgen Klopp dare not speak of.
On May 22, the final day of a long Premier League season and less than a week away from the Champions League final in Paris, Liverpool Football Club can STILL complete a never before achieved quadruple of major trophies. Just how we arrived at this point is utterly remarkable.
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On February 9, City moved 14 points clear at the top of the table after beating Brentford 2-0, having played two games more. Since then, that lead has been eroded to just a single point and the Reds have won the Carabao Cup on the 22nd penalty of a shoot-out, the FA Cup in almost identical fashion (with less spot-kicks) and navigated a route to their third European Cup final appearance in five years to keep 'the quad' alive.
It is an audacious multi-trophy assault that, try as it might, never wants to die. An FA Cup semi-final against City will surely be a bridge too far? Beat them 3-2 with a first-half performance of the highest quality. A 1-1 draw against Tottenham should have killed it off? No. A late penalty for City against West Ham United should settle it once and for all? Missed. A much-changed side at Southampton will find it tough after going a goal behind? Enter Takumi Minamino and the weirdest of headers from Joel Matip.
Can this turn of events be chartered back even further? A goalkeeper scoring in the fifth minute of injury-time against West Bromwich Albion last season that kept Liverpool's late pursuit of Champions League football on course? This is football, weird things happen. And that gives people hope.
It is hope that will drive Liverpool today at Anfield and could even, with noticeably little fanfare, deliver a 20th league title. Should the unexpected materialise and Aston Villa pull off some sort of result in Manchester it will be one of the most remarkable finales to a season in years but not without precedent.
Anfield itself played its part in a fairly bizarre pair of fixtures back in 1995. Under the management of Kenny Dalglish, Blackburn Rovers arrived on Merseyside knowing that a win would guarantee the Lancashire club a first league title in 81 years. Meanwhile, Alex Ferguson's Manchester United were away to West Ham, poised to capitalise on any slip-up by Rovers. Liverpool had pretty much nothing to play for and the Hammers were - like Aston Villa are today - 14th in the table and probably thinking about their summer holidays.
In fact, all the talk amongst Liverpool supporters prior to the final day was about the prospect of Manchester United being prevented from winning another title by Blackburn actually beating the Reds. This apparent dilemma in priorities was tested to the absolute limit when Alan Shearer gave Rovers the lead 20 minutes into the match and sections of the home crowd cheered, sparking an angry response from others who cared more for a Liverpool win than a United title triumph. A scene that seems scarcely believable 27 years on, but played out in the by now newly constructed all-seater Kop grandstand.
Any suggestion that Roy Evans' side would simply throw the match to stop their fierce rivals from winning the league were banished to the dustbin when Liverpool actually came from behind to win the match. After John Barnes pulled the contest level with about 25 minutes to play, the tension in the ground was tangible.
But when Jamie Redknapp won the game for the Reds in injury-time with a brilliant curling free kick, a modest cheer was followed by a unnerving silence as Blackburn and Liverpool fans tried to digest the consequences of such a result. But this is football and weird things happen.
Rovers' shocking defeat should have handed United the title, but fate had decided that West Ham's Czech goalkeeper Ludek Miklosko was going to choose today to play the match of his life. Pulling off save after save as the visitors went in search of a winner - each one more ridiculous than the last - try as they might, Manchester United could simply find no way past the inspired goalkeeper and against all odds drew 1-1 at Upton Park. Blackburn had won the league thanks to the result of another match.
If Liverpool are to clinch the Premier League title today and roll this unimaginable quadruple attempt into the final calling of the European football calendar, then they will need more than a tactical masterclass from Villa boss Steven Gerrard and the wizardry of ex-Red Philippe Coutinho to achieve it. They will need a little bit of luck as well.
When Jurgen Klopp ended Anfield's 30-year wait to be crowned English champions in 2020, a global health pandemic decided that celebrations were at best muted, if not cancelled. And that is a wrong that needs to be put right. Today might not be that day but that won't stop Reds fans from hoping that it is.
Without hope, there is no beauty in football, so get dressed, unleash your inner Divock Origi and remember how Jurgen Klopp has been turning doubters into believers since the day he arrived.
