What happened inside Anfield after Matt O'Riley goal as Pep Guardiola and Liverpool let mask slip

Liverpool can ignore the elephant in the room no longer. Their campaign is no longer something of a free pass for Arne Slot as he gets his feet under the table following the departure of the long-serving Jurgen Klopp.

Rather, they could be capable of achieving something rather special under the Dutchman in the months ahead.

Clear at the top of the Premier League table by five points, top of the Champions League table too and through to the League Cup quarter-finals, any reduced expectations following Klopp’s exit have swiftly been reconsidered after an incredible run of 15 wins from Slot’s first 17 games.

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Running out 2-0 victors over Aston Villa in their latest outing on Saturday, Anfield was chanting ‘Liverpool, top of the league’ in the game’s dying embers and long into the night once it became clear another three points would be theirs.

Yet such a fact would have been true heading into the November international break regardless of what they did against the Villans, courtesy of Manchester City’s latest slip-up away at Brighton & Hove Albion.

Slot might have insisted such a result did not offer added motivation to his ranks, but the same cannot be said for anyone else of a Reds persuasion around Anfield on Saturday.

Supporters who took to their seats early followed the proceedings on their phones while the Anfield press room was glued to the action as the Seagulls staged a late comeback against Pep Guardiola’s side.

While the gathered media are professionally neutral, of course, such a mask did slip somewhat within their inner sanctum. Both Joao Pedro’s equaliser and Matt O’Riley’s winner were greeted with cheers and applause, followed by relief at the final whistle before they belatedly all descended to their seats in the press box.

It might only be November, but a five-point advantage at this moment in time is significant. With an out-of-sorts City hosting Tottenham Hotspur before travelling to Anfield after the international break, Liverpool have it within their grasp to make such a gap grow even more.

Prior to kick-off against Villa, there were faint murmurs of ‘Liverpool, top of the league,’ as those present quickly clocked on to the potential significance of such an occasion.

Sure enough, Anfield was a cauldron as the game got underway and the Reds arguably started quicker than in any other game under Slot so far. The eruption of noise that greeted both goals and the final whistle said it all.

Liverpool don’t want to acknowledge the aforementioned elephant just yet, but they are most-aware of it after their rivals’ continued slip-ups and failure to so far keep the pace. Veterans of title races in recent years, Kopites recognise the smell, sight, sound and taste when it presents itself in front of them.

Speaking to Viaplay, Cody Gakpo would offer the expected response from the Reds dressing room when addressing their place in the Premier League standings.

“It’s still very early,” the Dutchman said. “Ultimately we are just doing well. The coach looks at every match as if we have not played another match yet. He demands 100% from us in every match.

“We do not look at the rankings, but at things that we have to do better. It is also his strength how he conveys that. We just have to win matches, because we know how difficult it can be."

But in the case of Alexis Mac Allister, that ‘one game at a time’ mask was allowed to slip slightly.

"If you are top of the league, five points ahead, then it means something. But as I say, we have to go step by step,” he told TNT Sports. "If you ask me before the season started, I wouldn't say we were candidates but now it looks like [we are]. We are going to keep working and trying to get better."

In the past week alone it has become apparent that something has been brewing at Anfield.

As Man City slipped up and Guardiola suffered four successive defeats for the first time in his managerial career, Liverpool followed up reaching the League Cup quarter-finals by clinching a hat-trick of home victories.

And considering at the start of the campaign, the Anfield atmosphere was being questioned, that has very much changed in recent days as the switch has been flicked.

Inspiring the comeback 2-1 win against Brighton last weekend before overseeing a 4-0 thrashing of Bayer Leverkusen and then roaring Liverpool to victory against Villa, Kopites have helped ensure their side take advantage of every domestic City slip-up. They are still stung by those two one-point title losses against Guardiola’s ranks, after all.

When first chanting Slot’s name, it was because it was Klopp’s final order back in May. But now such serenading is genuine as the Reds continue to march on and start daring to dream.

Few expected Liverpool to be in this situation following the German’s exit. But following the seamless transition under Slot, they won’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

There will be no ‘We’re going to win the league!’ chants anytime soon at Anfield. Only 11 games into the Premier League season, it is far too early for such calls.

But, for now at least, the ‘top of the league’ cries are here to stay as the Reds continue to build breathing space between themselves and their domestic rivals at the top of the table.

Liverpool would admittedly prefer to remain the underdogs in any potential title-race and continue to go under the radar, but City’s missteps are making that harder and harder.

"Maybe after seven years winning six Premier Leagues, maybe one year another team deserves it,” a deflated Guardiola acknowledged after his side’s loss to Brighton.

“Today in the press conference I was asked if it was the end of the era. I know people want that. I smell it for many, many years.

“What we have done in these years, people have said it’s so difficult, but if somebody would like to beat us it is going to happen because in the next 50 years we’re not going to win all the Premier Leagues. It’s impossible.”

There is something in the air. Guardiola could sense it at the Amex Stadium on Saturday, and 270 miles away at Anfield, those present were well aware of it too.

Having witnessed a plethora of title twists and turns in their collective careers, the gathered media’s reaction to events on the South Coast was also telling.

It is admittedly inconceivable that Slot’s men continue to rack up wins at such a pace of knots all the way through until May. But Man City are wounded. And this time, it feels somewhat different.

While Liverpool have been stung more times than most by Guardiola’s ranks in recent years, they know an opportunity when they see it. And it is one that they can no longer try to ignore.