Arsenal Invincible Gilberto expected Liverpool to emulate his side’s achievement.
Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva admitted he expected Liverpool to go on and emulate his side’s achievement of going the whole 2003/04 season unbeaten.
In the Times, Silva spoke about how hard it is to do that but said he thought Jurgen Klopp’s side were able to do it before their 3-0 defeat against Watford on Saturday.
He said: “Liverpool came very close to the unbeaten record we hold with Arsenal. I have always said that one day it may happen and the way they have been playing, I was expecting them to do it. For most people it was unexpected that they would lose at Watford but we are still there as No 1, and this is a very special achievement.
I left the Premier League more than ten years ago. We won this in 2004. It’s such a long time and after the Liverpool game, “Arsenal the Invincibles” came into people’s minds. What Liverpool have done this season is very special. Jürgen Klopp, his staff and the players have done a great job. They can still do marvellous things.”
It’s tricky for Liverpool because they are so far ahead in the Premier League title race, if it can even be called that this season, that it may be easy for minds to wander.
Their performances in terms of winning all but one of their games before Saturday has been outstanding but keeping that focus every week to the extent that you go unbeaten when the league is sewn up is hard.
It would have been a historic achievement and that weekend aberration shows how difficult it was to do what Arsenal did back in Gilberto’s era.
Now the challenge for Liverpool is to get back into their groove ahead of their Champions League second leg and FA Cup tie with Chelsea.
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