No disrespect to probable champion Chelsea or defending champion Manchester City, but at the moment, Liverpool is the best side in the Premier League. Its 20-point start to 2015 is six points better than Chelsea and eight points better than Manchester City. Arsenal is second best with 18 points since the start of the New Year.
Following a 3-0 defeat to Manchester United on Dec. 14, 2014, Liverpool is unbeaten in the league. The Reds have claimed eight wins in their last 10 Premiership matches and, incredibly, they have claimed 26 of a possible 30 points since Christmas while, more often than not, playing attacking football.[Major League Soccer:
What's more, Liverpool has yet to hit full stride with prime talisman Daniel Sturridge still finding his feet after missing five months due to injury. Sturridge has only notched two goals since returning – and scoring – against West Ham United on Jan. 31. His other tally came in a 2-1 FA Cup win over Crystal Palace.
Perhaps the best indication of Sturridge's status is the 25-year-old's absence in Liverpool's first 11 against Manchester City over the weekend.
"Daniel [Sturridge] is still in the post-injury phase, so we're having to be careful," Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers told Sky Sports before Sunday's 2-1 victory at Anfield. "He is getting his fitness in the games."
The Reds rebounded from midweek penalty kick elimination in the Europa League to produce their most impressive victory of the season. Choosing to play without a traditional center forward, Liverpool focused its attack on the pace of Raheem Sterling, the talent of Adam Lallana and the creativity of Philippe Coutinho.
Without a central striker worth playing regularly early in the season, Rodgers's Liverpool evolved into a team that shares the scoring load and plays with a different style of attack not focused on a lone front man that does not track back. With Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert initially struggling to cope with the expectations at Anfield, the Reds managed to find goals by committee. Coutinho and Sterling may earn and deserve the loudest shouts and majority of the headlines, but 11 different Reds have scored over Liverpool's past 10 Premier League games: Balotelli, Fabio Borini, Coutinho,Steven Gerrard, Jordan Henderson, Lallana, Lambert, Lazar Markovic, Alberto Moreno, Sterling and Sturridge.
Liverpool's football is greater than any one player. This transition became a necessity when Luis Suarez left for Barcelona and Sturridge was out injured. Since Christmas, Liverpool has played with greater team spirit than any other side in England.
Going back to Coutinho, the Brazilian is making a habit of cutting in on his right foot and finding space just outside the box. When he arrived at Anfield, Coutinho had incredible dribbling skills and displayed above average passing ability, but he had been unable to find the power required to consistently beat Italian goal keepers while at Inter Milan.
In only his second full season at Anfield, the 22-year-old appears to have gotten stronger as he has already provided a couple of the best belters of the English season thus far. With every strike, Coutinho's confidence should only grow further, and the Brazilian should cement his place in his national team with a positive performance at Copa America 2015.
The 20-year-old Sterling has been Liverpool's best player this season. He is tied with Gerrard as the team's top scorer with six goals and is the leading assist man with seven. Against Manchester City, Sterling often looked like Liverpool's main man despite playing the full 120 minutes at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, about 2,000 miles away only three days earlier.
With Sturridge almost sure to combine masterfully with Coutinho and Sterling in due time, Liverpool's future as it transitions away from the Gerrard era is blindingly bright.
With 11 Premier League matches remaining, the Reds need to continue their New Year form through the final three months of the season. They welcome Manchester United, currently in fourth place and just two points ahead, to Anfield on March 22, so Liverpool effectively controls its own destiny. Rodgers will need Sturridge back to form, Coutinho creating master pieces, Sterling speeding past opponents and even Balotelli knocking in a few timely goals.
A couple more Gerrard free kick goals would surely be welcomed, too.
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