"I'm actually seeing Tottenham fans in the live chat saying they can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Is this really the time to relax?"
"Have Tottenham fans forgotten that their team is losing?"
"Tottenham need to start producing results under Conte, but against Liverpool today, they haven't shown us a single attacking move that really stands out."
After Liverpool brought on several rotation players, their tactics remained unchanged.
Salah became their main attacking threat and completely tore apart Tottenham's defense down the right. Once Szoboszlai returned to midfield, he clearly looked much more comfortable there than he had on the left wing.
Rodri had gradually shifted away from constantly looking for forward passes and was now focusing more on moving the ball to help his teammates.
Ødegaard, meanwhile, desperately wanted to make the most of the remaining minutes and add something more substantial to his Premier League performances.
After moving from Real Madrid to Liverpool, Ødegaard had hoped to prove himself again in the Premier League, but Klopp had yet to give him much playing time.
Tottenham failed to score after Leo went off, and Liverpool ultimately won 3-0.
It was Liverpool's third straight Premier League victory since Leo's return. Those nine points had lifted them from eighth to sixth in the table.
"Liverpool are up to sixth! They're now four points behind league leaders Manchester City, who have also just finished their match and were held to a draw by Arsenal!"
"If a twelve-point gap once made you think Liverpool had no chance of getting back into the title race, then what about seven points now? After what Liverpool have shown over these last three matches, are you ready to start backing them for the Premier League title again?"
The person asking that question could only have been Gullit.
And the person being asked could only have been Rivaldo.
Rivaldo was actually starting to consider Liverpool genuine title contenders, but Gullit's tone and expression made him unwilling to admit it.
"Gullit, what difference does it make whether they're twelve points behind or seven?"
"It's not like Liverpool are seven points ahead of Manchester City. Come talk to me about Liverpool winning the Premier League when they actually move above City. Until then, I still believe there's absolutely no chance Liverpool win the title this season!"
Scholes was no longer siding with Rivaldo.
Instead, he thought Gullit might well have been the first commentator that season to say Liverpool could challenge for the Premier League title.
"I'm the second commentator to say Liverpool can win the Premier League. I hope the fans remember that I said today that Liverpool can become Premier League champions this season."
"And I also hope everyone remembers that Rivaldo said Liverpool definitely won't win it."
Once again, Scholes and Gullit found themselves on the same side in the commentary booth.
Rivaldo didn't care that both of them were backing Liverpool.
As far as he was concerned, there was another team with an even better chance of winning the Premier League this season.
"Then I hope every fan remembers this too. Today, I'm predicting Arsenal will win the Premier League!"
"I think Arsenal are getting stronger with every match. They have a very real chance of becoming champions this season. They're second in the table right now, only two points behind Manchester City. Why can't they win the league?"
"I'm backing them!"
Rivaldo's declaration immediately won him plenty of support from Arsenal fans.
"Whoever decided to replace Ashley Cole with Rivaldo in the commentary booth deserves a raise. This change is exactly what I wanted!"
"Rivaldo is the greatest Brazilian legend in my heart. The 'do' in Rivaldo is Ronaldo's 'do,' and the 'al' is Ronaldinho's 'al'!"
"Arsenal for the title! We're definitely going to be Premier League champions!"
Quite a few teams had a realistic chance of challenging for the Premier League title this season because Manchester City had not been overwhelmingly dominant.
Arsenal were improving rapidly, Liverpool were gradually returning to their best, Chelsea's results had begun to improve after changing managers, and several mid-table clubs were regularly taking points from teams in the top six.
All of that had kept the Premier League table unusually tight, giving plenty of teams reason to believe they could win the title.
After all, the Premier League had belonged to either Manchester City or Liverpool for the past several years.
Fans across the league wanted their own club to become the new champions by finally toppling both of them.
When the match ended, Liverpool's players gathered on Leo's left while Tottenham's players stood on his right, leaving Leo surrounded in the middle.
Players from both sides kept chatting with him.
By now, it almost seemed like a standard sight after Premier League matches. Plenty of players would stay behind after the final whistle just to talk with Leo.
"Some of the players out there right now could already be called Premier League legends. If they retired tomorrow, people would immediately remember them that way."
"Take Kane. He may not have won a major title, but he's scored an enormous number of goals and collected plenty of individual awards."
"Lloris is another one. And Liverpool's Rodri is surely already at that level too."
Scholes said this because he had suddenly noticed something.
The way some of these Premier League players looked at Leo was almost exactly the way ordinary fans looked at Premier League legends.
"Leo is probably a legend even among Premier League legends now. If you include every player in the league's history and look purely at Premier League honors, there are probably still players who have won more than he has."
"After all, Leo is only twenty-three."
"But among active players, hardly anyone can compare with him. By the time he's thirty, or perhaps he won't even need that long, maybe by twenty-five or twenty-six, it may already be difficult to find anyone in Premier League history who has achieved more in this competition."
"And if you include international honors and the biggest individual awards as well, Leo may soon be standing at the very top of football history."
Players like that were incredibly rare.
Most footballers were only truly called legends after retirement. Only then did fans look back and realize just how extraordinary they had once been.
But when a player was already being discussed so intensely as one of the greatest while he was still active, those discussions would only become even bigger after he retired.
"Gullit, what do you think Leo will do after he retires?"
Gullit thought about it seriously.
Then he realized Leo actually had plenty of options.
Even if he stopped playing football, he would probably excel in another role within the sport, whether as a head coach or even a commentator.
"I think he should become a head coach. Or maybe own a club. Either way, he'll have plenty of money."
"Or I could buy a club and make Leo the head coach."
Scholes immediately replied, "Then we'll buy one together, as long as we know Leo's going to be the manager."
...
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