Gary Neville has revealed the one player Liverpool cannot afford to lose to injury after causing an upset against Spurs on Sunday night.
Arne Slot's side extended their lead at the top of the table to four points – with a game in hand over others – thanks to a 6-3 win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Goals from Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah completed the win that secured their place at the top of the league before Christmas.
After the match, Neville suggested the Reds are 'clearly the best team' but revealed the one player they cannot afford to lose amid their title charge.
“Liverpool are clearly the best team in the Premier League at the moment,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast after the match.
'They are the clear favorite for the title. Man City's decline was spectacular, I'm not sure anyone really knows how it went so badly wrong.
“Chelsea had a tough game today, but they are doing well and having a good season.
'I think the only team Liverpool should keep an eye on is Arsenal, if they can close the gap in March and April.
'But at the moment Liverpool are the clear favourites. I think the biggest risk for them is injuries. If they lost Van Dijk and Salah it would hurt them.
'Van Dijk is like Rodri for Liverpool, he keeps everything together. Keeping him fit is absolutely crucial.
'There are some big challenges ahead so we are nowhere near the point where you can give Liverpool the title, but they are in a great position and at the moment they are by far the best team in the league and in the rankings. tells us that.'
Meanwhile, Arne Slot praised his Liverpool players and insisted his side could have scored more than the six they put past Tottenham.
'It was perhaps our best performance away from home, although I also really enjoyed what I saw against Man Utd. It was total dominance and we outplayed them many times. Besides six goals, I think we could have scored more.'
In the past seven seasons, when Liverpool topped the table at Christmas, they have won the league just once and their Dutch boss refused to get carried away.
'Of course it means something (being on top at Christmas). You would always rather be where we are than somewhere else at the table. You know as well as I do – I won the competition once (with Feyenoord) – how difficult it is to stay at the top,” said Slot.
'You have to be at the top of your game every minute of every match. That's why it's so hard to win. It's not easy to show up every three or four days. Last week you saw how easy it is to get a red card in one moment. These kinds of things can happen in a season.
'At Newcastle we were 3-2 up, we came up short in one situation and lost three points, so that's the Premier League. I didn't expect Chelsea to drop points. It can happen in any match and that's what makes the competition so special. “So many people want to watch it and that's why we're playing at Christmas,” he added.
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