20 moments that won Liverpool the Premier League title: From sensational Mohamed Salah to Arsenal and Man City's self-inflicted wounds

Where else but to begin than right at the start, because let's face it: Liverpool's appointment of Arne Slot was fundamental to their 20th top-flight success. Lest anyone forget, replacing a living legend like Jurgen Klopp was widely regarded as the impossible job - but Slot has proven the perfect replacement.

A lot of credit must, therefore, go to sporting director Richard Hughes. He may have copped plenty of subsequent flak for his transfer activity - or lack thereof - but he got the biggest call of his time at Anfield 100 percent correct. Xabi Alonso, Ruben Amorim and Roberto De Zerbi were all touted as possible Klopp replacements, but the Reds instead offered the job to the unassuming Dutchman doing a fantastic job at Feyenoord.

"The playing style that attracted us to Arne is based on subjective footballing opinion and data as well," Hughes explained at Slot's unveiling last July. "In all the metrics, Arne's Feyenoord team came out really well. They played real front-foot, attacking football with intelligence and passion, and I think those are all attributes that we would welcome here at Liverpool. I also think they lend really well with the current squad that we have, our supporters and the football club as a whole."

Hughes couldn't have been more right...

Martin Zubimendi's decision to reject a move to Anfield in favour of staying at Real Sociedad meant Liverpool still had a major problem in midfield. Slot solved it by redeploying Ryan Gravenberch as a No.6.

Although his potential was obvious, the Netherlands international had struggled to play with any great fluency during his first season at Anfield. However, he proved a revelation in his new defensive midfield role on the opening day of the season at Portman Road.

"I think he has the attributes to play there," Slot told TNT Sports after the 2-0 win over Ipswich. "He has to develop in that position, that's also clear, but he's comfortable with the ball, he can run, and he can keep running!"

Gravenberch impressed again in the 2-0 win over Brentford, but it was his classy performance in the 3-0 rout of Manchester United at Old Trafford on matchday three which proved that the Dutchman had finally found his best position.

This is certainly not an attempt to detract in any way, shape or form from Liverpool's championship success, but there is simply no denying that Rodri tearing his ACL against Arsenal on September 22 was one of the defining moments of the season.

Manchester City initially coped quite well without the Spain midfielder and they were still unbeaten in all competitions as we entered November. However, they then capitulated, as the devastating consequences of being shorn of the services of their most influential player were compounded by an injury crisis in defence and several key men suffering dramatic dips in form, including Phil Foden, last year's Premier League Player of the Season.

Indeed, it suddenly became very clear that Pep Guardiola had erred horribly in allowing the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan to grow old together at the Etihad. By the time City's billionaire owners moved to rectify the mistake by significantly strengthening the squad during a January spending spree, it was already too late. Liverpool had taken full advantage of Pep's lack of foresight during a blistering start to the season and had absolutely no intention of allowing their great rivals back into the title race.

With Luis Diaz having made a blistering start to the new season and Diogo Jota fit and firing up front, Cody Gakpo began Liverpool's first six league games on the bench. However, by that point, Slot had already decided that his compatriot was most effective on the left flank - thanks in no small part to a fantastic display in the Carabao Cup win over West Ham on September 5.

So, when Gakpo did eventually start in the Premier League for the first time, against Crystal Palace on October 5, he did so in his preferred position and set up the winning goal for Jota inside the opening 10 minutes.

Gakpo never really looked back from there and was one of Liverpool's form players before picking up a niggling injury in February that checked his progress. Still, it's clear that the Dutchman has benefited enormously from being almost exclusively played out wide this season.

There was a nervous energy around Anfield when Nicolas Jackson deservedly drew Chelsea level shortly after the interval in October with a well-taken goal that cancelled out Mohamed Salah's first-half opener. For the first time since Slot had taken over, Liverpool were struggling to dominate in midfield.

However, the hosts responded wonderfully to the setback, with Player of the Match (and new father!) Curtis Jones restoring his side's lead just three minutes later by latching onto Salah's sublime cross from the right flank to secure Slot a historic 10th win in his first 11 games as Liverpool manager.

"As soon as Mo had the ball, I made the run and I thought it was going to come and it did. But it kind of bounced as well so I thought, 'I've got to have a touch and it's got to be a perfect touch.' I was fortunate enough it was in my path and I got the goal," said Jones, who had slept in his spare room the night before the game to try to get as much rest as possible.

"My little girl would be proud as well, so I hope that my girlfriend at home and the baby are there with a smile on their faces!"

Liverpool did not play particularly well at the Emirates when they visited north London at the end of October. They were very poor, in fact, during the first half and were probably a little lucky to be only 2-1 down at the break.

However, the Reds improved the longer the game wore on and took full advantage of Arsenal's defensive issues by earning a 2-2 draw thanks to a quite brilliant breakaway goal, which saw Salah slot home a Darwin Nunez cut-back after a brilliant ball in behind the Gunners' backline from Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The result meant Liverpool remained a point behind unbeaten league leaders Manchester City, but the late leveller proved that the Merseysiders were made of stern stuff.

"In my opinion, Arsenal were the first team better than us [this season]," Slot told Sky Sports. "They deserved to be one up at half-time. We had less to recover and prepare for this game [because of the Champions League] and if I look at how strong we were in the second half, that pleased me."

For an awfully long time against Brighton in early November, it looked as if Liverpool were going to blow a golden opportunity to reclaim the lead in the title race. With Arsenal having already lost to Newcastle, and Manchester City heading towards a shock defeat at Bournemouth, the Reds were perfectly placed to go back top of the table. Well, almost perfectly placed. The one big problem was that they were 1-0 down at home to an in-form Seagulls side and running out of time.

However, with just 20 minutes to go, a Gakpo cross found its way into the back of the net before Salah completed a sensational comeback with a stunning left-footed strike from just inside the area after a terrific surge upfield led by Jones.

It was, as Slot said, "a Mo Salah special" and it took the winger's staggering tally of Premier League winning goals to 48!

Victory over struggling Southampton in November was taken as a given for high-flying Liverpool, but they found themselves in a serious spot of bother at St Mary's. Although Dominik Szoboszlai gave them the lead after half an hour, the Reds lacked their usual level of intensity and found themselves 2-1 down early in the second half, after goals from Adam Armstrong and Mateus Fernandes.

However, with Liverpool looking bereft of ideas, Salah stepped up once again, guiding home a terrific ball over the top from Gravenberch before converting a penalty to win the game.

"If you want to win games, you need to score goals, and we know Mo can score," Slot told Sky Sports afterwards. "For me, his first goal is the most important as we scored out of nowhere. Then after that, it was just a case of waiting for us to score another."

The statement of intent. On December 1, 2024, Liverpool sent a message to Manchester City and the rest of the league by completely outclassing the four-time defending champions at a raucous Anfield. The game may have only ended 2-0, but the visitors were flattered by the final scoreline, with Guardiola admitting that their great rivals had simply been "unstoppable" during a dominant first-half display.

Unsurprisingly, Salah was decisive on the day, creating the opener for Gakpo before scoring the second himself from the penalty spot, as Liverpool went nine points clear.

"The result is the most important but the performance was great," Slot told Match of the Day. "If you want to win against a team like City, you have to be good at every part of football, so high defending, low defending, build-up, high, low, everything. Because they bring so many challenges to you. And while I don't think we were perfect, we came quite close to managing it all."

On the face of it, a 2-2 draw at home to Fulham may have looked like a poor result for Liverpool, particularly as it meant four points dropped in two games following the 3-3 thriller at Newcastle 10 days beforehand.

However, in the circumstances, it was an outstanding achievement, as the Reds were already a goal down when they went a man down just 17 minutes into the game due to Andy Robertson's straight red card for a professional foul.

Gakpo restored parity shortly after the interval and then, after Rodrigo Muniz had put Fulham back in front (again the run of play, unbelievably enough), Diogo Jota scored a fully deserved 86th-minute equaliser for the hosts.

As Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson said afterwards, "Credit to Liverpool: it didn't feel like they had 10 men at all! They took a lot of risks pushing men high and they were rewarded for it. They piled the pressure on and were really positive." They may have only picked up a point, but Liverpool had shown the fighting spirit of champions.

By the middle of January, a rather surprising top-four challenger had emerged, with Nottingham Forest causing the Premier League's big boys all sorts of problems.

Of course, the Reds were already acutely aware of the difficulty involved in trying to break down Nuno Espirito Santo's tremendously well-drilled side. Their only loss of the season up until that point had come at home to Forest all the way back in September. Liverpool fans, thus, feared their worst when they fell 1-0 down at the City Ground to Chris Wood's seventh-minute strike.

However, the visitors didn't panic and Slot made a sensational double-substitution midway through the second half, with Diogo Jota heading home Kostas Tsimikas' corner just 22 seconds after the pair had come off the bench.

"If it had been open play, then people could maybe say it was a tactical masterclass, but it was a set-piece so I don't think I deserve any credit," Slot smiled afterwards. "It was a substitution where we brought an attacker on for a defender and the fact it immediately led to a goal, you could say it was luck."

Whatever it was, it earned Liverpool a draw that felt much more positive than the one with Manchester United the previous week.

Darwin Nunez has regressed so badly this season that it would not come as a surprise to see the £64 million ($84m) signing sold this summer. The Uruguayan's third year at Anfield has been little short of a disaster.

However, Nunez did play a starring role in one of Liverpool's most important victories of the 2024-25 campaign. Indeed, the Reds were staring a third consecutive draw in the face as their January 18 meeting with Brentford as the clock ticked past 90 minutes.

Nunez broke the deadlock just under 60 seconds into injury time, though, when he turned home a cross from Alexander-Arnold, who had benefited from a fortunate bounce of the ball. Less than two minutes later, the substitute striker struck again to seal a vital 2-0 victory that led to Liverpool opening up a six-point lead over Arsenal, who were held to a 2-2 draw with Aston Villa on the same day, and with a game in hand.

"If we would not have scored today in the last five minutes, then the headlines would have been Liverpool drop points again and no-one would have told you about our 37 shots on goal," Slot pointed out. "But what a display! How many teams were able against Brentford to have 37 shots on [goal] during a game?!"

The concession of a last-gasp equaliser in the final Merseyside Derby at Goodison Park came as a real body blow to Liverpool. Even Slot lost his cool for the first time after the heated and controversial 2-2 draw with Everton. It was, therefore, imperative that the league leaders returned to winning ways at home to Wolves four days later, and Liverpool looked to be cruising towards three precious points after opening up a 2-0 lead by the break thanks to goals from Diaz and Salah.

However, the classy Matheus Cunha set up an incredibly tense finale at Anfield with a lovely solo strike midway through the second half, and the relegation-threatened visitors would have claimed an arguably deserved draw had Jarell Quansah not made a perfectly-timed challenge to prevent Marshall Munetsi from netting a late equaliser.

"I saw the man behind me and I knew I had to make a block," the substitute said after the vital 2-1 victory. "It's always good to help the team in that way, but I'm just doing my job and that's all I have to do. I think we're all just thankful we got the three points."

As we've heard for months now from Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have endured a lot of injuries this season, but that only begs the question: why didn't they do anything about it?

Their lack of a prolific No.9 has been obvious for years now, and yet they once again decided against bringing in a striker during the summer transfer window. Even more unforgivably, they didn't make a move for a goal-scorer during the January transfer window until after the dreadfully inconsistent Gabriel Jesus was sidelined with a cruciate ligament tear and, by that stage, Aston Villa had already agreed to sell Jhon Duran to Al-Nassr to solve their financial issues, meaning there was no chance of them agreeing to let Arsenal have Ollie Watkins.

Consequently, the Gunners were left relying on Kai Havertz, an attacking midfielder, to lead a forward line that was still missing Bukayo Saka - Arsenal’s best attacker by some distance tore his hamstring just before Christmas - and the Germany international almost inevitably suffered a serious injury of his own just after the winter window closed.

Despite all of their issues, Arsenal did a decent job of trying to keep up with Liverpool into the spring, taking 23 points from a possible 27 between December 21 and February 15. But their glaring lack of a finisher was eventually exposed in a terrible 1-0 loss at home to West Ham - which relieved a huge amount of pressures on the leaders ahead of their trip to the Etihad the following day...

Much has been made of Arsenal's set-piece prowess this season, but it was Liverpool who produced the most well-worked and significant corner routine of the campaign. After weathering an early storm at the Etihad, the Reds bamboozled Man City with a brilliant move straight off the training that saw Dominik Szoboszlai dart to towards the near post to flick Alex Mac Allister's low cross into the path of Salah, who swept the ball home.

The reigning champions continued to dominate possession thereafter but without ever really giving Virgil van Dijk & Co. too much cause for concern, and the game was as good as over when Salah teed up Szoboszlai for Liverpool's second goal shortly before half-time. In doing so, Salah became the first player since Lionel Messi in 2014-15 to both score and assist in 11 different games in one of Europe's 'Big Five' leagues in the same season.

"If you are going to be successful at any club you do need that world-class player," former Manchester United captain Roy Keane said on Sky Sports after Liverpool's 2-0 win over City. "You can have brilliant players around you, but you need that one player who is almost ahead of everyone else, the one that pushes you over the line and makes the difference in tight games. Mo Salah does that week in and week out for Liverpool."

Arsenal knew if they were to have any chance of reeling in Liverpool, they would have to win away to Nottingham Forest on February 26 and hope that the leaders dropped points at home to Newcastle on the same night. However, the Gunners failed to fire once again in a scoreless draw at the City Ground and Liverpool took full advantage.

Just three days after scoring at the Etihad, Szoboszlai was on target again at Anfield, while fellow midfielder Alexis Mac Allister also found the back of the net in a hard-fought 2-0 win over Newcastle that the suspended Slot was forced to watch from the stands after his post-Merseyside derby meltdown.

The pair admitted afterwards that they were both utterly exhausted after the team's fifth game in 15 days, but nonetheless delighted at having taken a massive step towards the title. "We are a little bit tired," Mac Allister told Sky. "But hopefully we can keep going."

Tension was mounting on the Kop as the hour mark approached in another fiercely competitive Merseyside derby in early April. Liverpool fans were still furious that Everton centre-half James Tarkowski had not seen red for a horrific first-half challenge on Mac Allister, while Beto was causing the usually unflappable Van Dijk all sorts of problems.

However, the whole atmosphere changed in the 57th minute, when Diaz took advantage of a rather ridiculous rule to step back onside and flick the ball into the direction of Jota on the edge of the area. The Portuguese then turned one way and then the other to create enough space for himself to fire home what proved the only goal of an incredibly controversial encounter at Anfield.

"I think everybody has said something about [the Tarkowski yellow], so why should I add to it?" Slot asked in his post-match interview on Sky Sports. "It's so obvious that it's not necessary for me to comment. I'd prefer to talk about the goal or Curtis Jones' performance [at right-back] or something else...

"Our boys showed immense character, I think we created more than in the away game and, in the end, we scored a good goal and kept a clean sheet."

Amid mounting concerns over the increasingly laboured nature of their performances, Liverpool made a blistering start to their game against West Ham at Anfield on April 13, with Salah celebrating the announcement of his long-awaited contract renewal by leaving Diaz with a tap-in during an electrifying first-half showing.

However, the Reds began to once again look leggy in the closing stages, with Alisson Becker having to repeatedly come to their rescue, so it came as no real surprise when Robertson put through his own net with just four minutes remaining after a disastrous defensive mix-up with Van Dijk.

Luckily for Liverpool, though, there was still time for Van Dijk to make amends, with the skipper heading home a corner in the 89th-minute to send Anfield into ecstasy - and move his team to within six points of the title.

"It was definitely a significant goal because now we need two more wins," Slot told Match of the Day. "I think the first 32 games of the season have shown how difficult it is for us to win a game of football! It sounds weird when you are so many points clear, but that is the current situation of the Premier League."

Some things are just meant to be. With Liverpool struggling to break down Leicester City at the King Power Stadium in mid-April, Slot brought the fit-again Trent Alexander-Arnold off the bench for the full-back's first appearance since reports that he had agreed to join Real Madrid at the end of the season. Consequently, there was some doubt over how he might be received by the travelling Reds.

Alexander-Arnold, though, was greeted like a returning hero, with the away fans hailing the return of "The Scouser in our team". Alexander-Arnold replied to that show of support in the best possible fashion by firing home the winning goal - with his left foot - with just 14 minutes remaining.

“I have said all season that I am not going to speak on my situation," the 26-year-old told Sky Sports. "I am not going to go into the details. But days like today are always special. Scoring goals, playing games, winning games, winning titles - they are special moments for me and I am glad to do my part.

“Virgil [van Dijk] told me to soak it in. I have scored a few goals here at this stadium. We are so close to winning the title now and the first game back from injury as well, it was an important game for me. It's probably the one type of goal that I was missing, but I was saving it for a right time! We are so close to winning - just one win away now. To do that, especially with the fans here, is a very, very special moment."

The common consensus was that, in Spurs, Liverpool couldn't have hoped for better opposition as they looked to clinch the title at the first time of asking on April 27. And so it proved.

However, there was a little twist in the tale, as Ange Postecoglou's defensively abject team - who also had one eye on their season-defining Europa League semi-final against Bodo/Glimt - took a shock early lead at Anfield through former Red Dominic Solanke.

Crucially, though, the nervous hosts were only behind for four minutes as Luis Diaz turned in Szoboszlai's ball across the six-yard box for a crucial equaliser that was initially - and incorrectly - ruled out for offside.

The VAR's intervention sparked scenes of wild celebration around Anfield and unsurprisingly settled Slot's side, who ultimately coasted to a come-from-behind win that secured the club's 20th championship in some style.