Jurgen Klopp refuses to get carried away as Liverpool's dream of Premier League title edges closer to reality

Beyond Liverpool, the consensus is no longer if, but when and where Jurgen Klopp secures the club’s first Premier League title in 30 years.

Anfield’s spiritual leader even gave his permission for the Kop to dream this year’s race over, the outpouring of emotion after the final whistle against Manchester United on Sunday bringing the first rendition of ‘we’re gonna win the league’ from fans.

While Liverpool players and staff distance themselves from such presumptuousness, the countdown gathers pace with two forthcoming fixtures offering the ultimate football fantasy for those on Merseyside who have endured three decades of mockery for dining out on their glorious title past.

If fate intervenes, Liverpool’s trip to Goodison Park on the weekend of March 14 or the Etihad Stadium, scheduled for April 4, are the stand-out dates for those considering where and when the open top bus can start what is becoming an annual parade around Liverpool's docks.

For Liverpool to win it at the home of their neighbours Everton, they would need to maintain their perfect winning form between now and their visit and hope City drop more points.

To achieve it at Manchester City, the reigning champions will need to win every game between now and then to maintain the current points gap.

Winning it in time to give City the pleasure of offering a traditional guard of honour would, perhaps, be too much to expect for the title-chasing Merseysiders.

Klopp will hate such assumptions, of course, especially as this Thursday’s trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers is one of the toughest of the season. Until his side has collected the 94 points that would guarantee the championship – 10 more wins from their remaining 16 games – there will be no drop in intensity.

As he did last season, albeit in a losing cause, Klopp is adept at separating the dreams of supporters, more realistic with every victory, from the duties of his players.

But he is helpless to prevent the amateur cartographers navigating the swiftest route to that title and thinking aloud about the venue destined to become etched on the memory of Liverpool fans.

After falling short against City in close title races in 2014 and 2019, the idea of a title procession is beyond anyone’s expectations. The players, however, are having none of it, despite the celebratory mood in the aftermath of the latest victory.

“How many times have you been interviewing us? I think we all give the same answer,” said Virgil van Dijk.

“Everyone can have their opinion, have their say on the situation we are in now but we all know as a group, everyone that is involved in Melwood, we are not getting carried away. The second part of the season has just started and we all know anything is still possible. The good thing is we have that mentality where we just focus on one game at a time.

“We can’t deny that we are in a good situation. These things don’t mean anything at the moment.”

What is most frightening for those trying to stop Liverpool this season and for the next four years of Klopp is his side has not yet reached its maximum potential.

The average age of the back four which has kept seven consecutive clean sheets is 24. Goalkeeper Alisson Becker is still only 27.

The win over United was one of many examples of the scoreline failing to reflect how dominant the performance, chances wasted to give the opponent more hope than they were entitled given their inferiority. It was similar away at Tottenham Hotspur the previous weekend.

It begs the question, how much better will Klopp’s side be if they are even more ruthless in front of goal?

“It probably should have been more comfortable instead of having that nervy 10 minutes when they threw everything at it and tried to get a draw,” said full-back Andy Robertson.

“We had so many chances we could have put the game out of sight and luckily for us Mo just topped it off at the end and we could relax for 20 seconds.

“If you look back there is big room for improvement. We should have killed them off, but we did in the end.”

It is rather like Klopp channels his words through the players after every victory, the hugs and backslapping ending on the pitch before attention turns to the next game.

While the Kop sings “now you’re gonna believe us” and the rest of the country circles the most likely victory date, Robertson will not deviate from his manager’s script.

“Until the champions sign is above our heads we don't believe anything,” he said.